Judgement According to Mill
This paper discusses Mill’s views about judgement as presented in Book I of A System of Logic. Its purpose is twofold: first, to understand the exact nature of the question Mill asks about judgement; and second, to expound his answer thereto.
I want to commence with a brief, terminological point. Mill uses the term "judgement" interchangeably with the term "proposition," both of which can be defined provisionally as the bearers of truth or falsity. In most of his discussion, however, he uses the language of "propositions;" consequently, I do the same in this paper.
The first task incumbent on the expounder of Mill’s views of propositions is to specify the question regarding propositions that Mill intends to answer. In Book I, Chapter v, § 1 of A System of Logic, Mill distinguishes two kinds of inquiry concerning the nature of propositions. The first inquiry concerns the peculiar mental state called "belief." Mill agrees there is something compelling about the prevalent philosophical conception of belief, according to which a belief consists in bringing together two ideas in the mind. According to Mill, however, this account captures only a necessary condition for belief; it is not sufficient to explain belief. Why not? We can bring together two ideas in the mind, e.g. when we imagine something, without thereby entertaining a belief. Mill agrees with Hume here, and this first inquiry concerning the nature of propositions is none other that Hume’s question about the difference between belief and the mere entertainment of a proposition. Mill does not attempt to answer Hume’s question, however.
The second kind of inquiry concerning the nature of propositions concern...
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...rthermore, an examination of Mill’s analysis of the meaning of certain propositions corroborates the interpretation expressed in this paper. Consider Mill’s analysis of "All men are mortal." The names "All men" and "mortal" connote a certain set of attributes. Herein lies the meaning of these names. When we combine these two names in the affirmative proposition "All men are mortal," the resulting meaning of the proposition is that "whatever has the attributes connoted by the subject, has also those connoted by the predicate; that the latter constantly accompany the former set" (Book I, Chapter v, § 4). The categorial relation involved in the meaning of this proposition is thus order in place. But this cannot be found in the meaning of the individual names. It is only found in the proposition that brings together the two names "All men" and "mortal" in such a manner.
Mill, John S. The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill. New York, New York: Modern Library, 2002. Print.
Utilitarianism defined, is the contention that a man should judge everything based on the ability to promote the greatest individual happiness. In other words Utilitarianism states that good is what brings the most happiness to the most people. John Stuart Mill based his utilitarian principle on the decisions that we make. He says the decisions should always benefit the most people as much as possible no matter what the consequences might be. Mill says that we should weigh the outcomes and make our decisions based on the outcome that benefits the majority of the people. This leads to him stating that pleasure is the only desirable consequence of our decision or actions. Mill believes that human beings are endowed with the ability for conscious thought, and they are not satisfied with physical pleasures, but they strive to achieve pleasure of the mind as well.
Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni He, and Terrance J. Taylor (2001) surveyed over 5,000 students. The questions asked were based on how and why they chose to be in a gang (whether they were a part of it currently or before the survey was conducted). The authors concluded their research in deciding unanimously that there was a connection between a social learning theory, and the commencement of gangs. Correspondingly, Herbert C. Covey (2003) created an academic book entitled, Street Gangs Throughout the World, which gave an in-depth look at the different types of gangs across the world. Throughout several chapters, Covey looks at the root causes of how any why gangs are formed. The author noticed that there was a significant trend among young, deprived adolescents and gang membership. (Covey, 2003). Covey (2003) indicated that the more underprivileged a youth was, the more likely the chances would be of them joining a gang, which is a major concern.
If accurate, this is a debilitating criticism of Kant’s moral theory as he had intended it. Mill’s critique instead classifies Kant’s moral theory as a type of rule utilitarianism. Any action under Kant’s theory is tested as a general rule for the public, and if the consequences are undesirable, then the general rule is rejected. “Undesirable consequences” are, according to the more precise language of Mill’s utilitarianism, consequences which are not a result of producing the greatest happiness. Mill’s analysis hinges on the lack of logical contradiction found in Kant’s theory. Without a concrete incongruity, Kant may be no more than a rule utilitarian. However, Mill is mistaken; the Categorical Imperative does produce absolute contradictions, as will be demonstrated through examples.
In the 1920’s there was a study conducted by Fredric M. Thrasher. Thrasher studied 1,313 gangs in Chicago and revealed the issue of gangs. He considered the poor in poverty as the area increasing in gangs. This area was known as the “zone in transition” and was referred as in his studies. Thrasher has many law reinforcement and social workers helping him bring a stop to this madness. According to Thrashers studies “Important variables such as the age of gang members or the organizational features of the gangs were not related in a straightforward way to differences in the behavior of gangs” (Cummings 6). Thrasher has analyzed these gangs in many ways to the extent or romantic life in gangs. He helped us distinguish the difference in stereotype gangs and then the actual facts involving them.
This interpretation intends to recognize, that there are parts of someone’s life that shouldn’t be controlled by society, as this part only affects the individual. Human liberty is comprised of three different domains, which make up the part of a person’s life that is controlled by them. Mill goes on to describe the domains and their importance to freedom. First, he addresses in the domain of consciousness, which he refers to the liberty of thought and expression (Mill, Liberty). According to Mill, silencing and individual’s opinion is wrong because it robs “the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation.” He believes it’s dangerous to suppress differing opinions because it’s possible these opinions may have some truth to them. If we allow ourselves to suppress every differing opinion, we keep ourselves from knowing the truth and neglect their contribution to humankind’s development. For this reason, Mill rejects the public opinion’s tendency to secure on a single belief because they become a routine activity causing difficulty for people to consider new beliefs. In contrast, Mill also defends the protection of suppressing opinions that are false. If we suppress false opinions, the truth of a received opinion is accepted as a belief rather than the truth. This becomes harmful for the individual, because if we fail to educate
Thornberry et al. further support this by revealing that youth boys who are antisocial to begin with are more likely to be recruited into a gang (1993 and 1994). This makes se...
The aforementioned can be illustrated by studying the difference between youth that take membership in gangs versus those who do not. According to Gordon et al. (2004) the youth that enrol in gangs already have a deviant behaviour beforehand. This confirms the general understanding that having a deviant lifestyle to begin with will likely lead to enrolling in a gang; whereas youth who are disciplined will achieve success via the normative means. Thus, the probability of engaging in gang membership and coming from a deviant background share a vivid connect...
Mills starts out in his first argument by being concerned that people were being silenced when voicing their opinions. He voices that by saying: “First, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility”(50). Mills means that when someone’s opinion is being silenced by another, the latter will assume that their believes are to be true.
Hume distinguishes two categories into which “all the objects of human reason or enquiry” may be placed into: Relations of Ideas and Matters of Fact (15). In regards to matters of fact, cause and effect seems to be the main principle involved. It is clear that when we have a fact, it must have been inferred...
In the selection, ‘Skeptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding’, David Hume poses a problem for knowledge about the world. This question is related to the problem of induction. David Hume was one of the first who decided to analyze this problem. He starts the selection by providing his form of dividing the human knowledge, and later discusses reasoning and its dependence on experience. Hume states that people believe that the future will resemble the past, but we have no evidence to support this belief. In this paper, I will clarify the forms of knowledge and reasoning and examine Hume’s problem of induction, which is a challenge to Justified True Belief account because we lack a justification for our beliefs.
The aim of this review essay is to compare and contrast the main schools of thought specialised in social movements, the comparative case studies chosen and the relevant literature. The time frame in which my final essay will be embedded goes from 1960 onwards, with social movements becoming a permanent component of western democracies. With regard to the theoretical frame, my starting point is the differentiation of two main approaches, the American and the European, regarding literature from authors like Della Porta and Mario Diani. Then I will focus on the four currently dominant perspectives and in the way they approach the reason for social movements to emerge, also in what their impact is on political systems. Finally, in an attempt to present empirical data to support the theory, I will use two case studies regarding current social movements and their impact on political systems.
Personality is the unique characteristic patterns of thinking, feelings and behaviours of a person. Each person has different personality which distinguishes a person from another. In our life, we have to make decisions every day. The decision-making process is influenced by our logical thinking as well as our personality.
Throughout the world, the protection of children is the main priority. When it comes to the United States, pedophiles are recognized as a threat to the wellbeing of kids of ages of 13 and under. Pedophilia is a mental disorder that can be treated; however, there is no cure for it. This means that pedophiles could be aided in a manner that protects both the pedophile and the youth. In the United States pedophilia is viewed more as a criminal case than a mental disorder resulting in criminal cases of pedophilia not decreasing and the endangerment of the pedophile and their mental health.
Social movements have played a defining role for society’s actors since the mid-18th century when followers of the English politician, John Wilkes, ran for the lower house of parliament on a platform to promote civil rights for all citizens of England . This social movement was not phenomena, but a direct response to changes occurring at the time namely: urbanization, use of print media, and the growing idea of popular sovereignty . In addition, the Enlightened writings of European, mostly French, philosophes were impacting much of the Western world which was just on the cusp of several revolutions for independence from the dominating and repressive political culture . According to Francis Fukuyama, “civil society serves to balance the power of the state and to protect individuals from the state’s power” . Civil society promotes democracy. Global civil society is also democratic in nature and creates a platform for dialogue . However, even in democracies, there are injustices and inequalities. Enter the role of social movements in global civil society. Social movements “organize and mobilize those who have failed to find redress for their grievances through the existing political system” . They seek to bring to the forefront issues that often challenge the dominant social, political, or economic structure.