I’ve been trying to find a good way to help my ethics students learn about John Stuart Mill and utilitarianism. I put together this combination of reading and reflection questions to get everyone to think through the content, and every so often while the students are working independently we’ll stop and have a class discussion so that students can share and develop their responses. I’m not trying to cover every detail, but I want to bring up a few key points: 1) a general definition of utilitarianism; 2) Mill’s method of measuring the quality of pleasures; 3) the need to protect the minority from abuse by the majority.
Any suggestions for things to rewrite, different questions to ask, or resources to use are welcome.
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