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Utility
A now-uncommon term for what is convenient or advantageous. Mill carefully distinguishes between two interpretations of this word: in popular discourse, something is usually “expedient” if it is good for the doer, but not necessarily the right thing to do. In chapter two, Mill clarifies that utilitarians are against that kind of “expediency.” But in the rest of the book, Mill reclaims the term to mean simply the most advantageous or best thing to do—namely, the course of action that maximizes utility.
Expediency Quotes in Utilitarianism
The Utilitarianism quotes below are all either spoken by Expediency or refer to Expediency. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5 Quotes
The principle, therefore, of giving to each what they deserve, that is, good for good as well as evil for evil, is not only included within the idea of justice as we have defined it, but is a proper object of that intensity of sentiment which places the just human estimation above the simply expedient.
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This passage is Mill’s rather complex way of saying that he believes people should care about and defend one another’s rights. In this sentence, he first says that the reciprocity “of giving to each what they deserve” is “included within the idea of justice.” He means that “the idea of justice” involves the principle that people should be treated as they treat others—a concept of reciprocity that follows naturally from the idea that all human beings are equal. Since everyone’s pleasure and pain matters equally, society should seek to promote everyone’s happiness. In order to do this, societies need common Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Excepturi ullam nobis. Ducimus odio quo. Ut autem harum. Omnis vel voluptatum. Assumenda officia maiores. Voluptatem sint velit. Quod quia sapiente. Cum sunt quo. Accu
All persons are deemed to have a right to equality of treatment, except when some recognized social expediency requires the reverse. And hence all social inequalities which have ceased to be considered expedient assume the character, not of simple inexpediency, but of injustice, and appear so tyrannical that people are apt to wonder how they ever could have been tolerated—forgetful that they themselves, perhaps, tolerate other inequalities under an equally mistaken notion of expediency, the correction of which would make that which they approve seem quite as monstrous as what they have at last learned to condemn. The entire history of social improvement has been a series of transitions by which one custom or institution after another, from being a supposed primary necessity of social existence, has passed into the rank of a universally stigmatized injustice and tyranny. So it has been with the distinctions of slaves and freemen, nobles and serfs, patricians and plebeians; and so it will be, and in part already is, with the aristocracies of color, race, and sex.
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After thinking through the concept of justice, Mill comes to this conclusion about the primary injustices of his time. To any reader familiar with Mill’s life work as a colonial administrator ruling over Indians whom he considered “barbarians” too uncivilized to have any moral worth, the principles he outlines here are likely to seem bafflingly ironic, to say the least. (Perhaps he thought that the British Empire was one of the convenient exceptions in which “some recognized social expediency” required inequality, or perhaps he believed he was civilizing people in order to eventually make them his equals.) Nevertheless, this passage Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possim
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Expediency Term Timeline in Utilitarianism
The timeline below shows where the term Expediency appears in Utilitarianism. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: What Utilitarianism Is
Other critics call utilitarianism “expedient,” a word that usually means putting private benefit above the public interest. But this is...
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Chapter 5: On the Connection between Justice and Utility
...also dictates equality, but not absolutely, because everyone wants equality “except where [one] thinks that expediency requires inequality.” Everyone has a different sense of what counts as expedient, ranging from “those...
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...bad (but not enforceable as such). This question of punishment, Mill argues, divides morality from “expediency and worthiness” in general. He now turns to the two kind of moral duties: imperfect...
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...question of where it comes from. He declares that, while justice is not all about expediency, the moral dimension of justice is. He summarizes that justice means “the desire to punish...
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...But none of this makes justice any less important, or makes it the same as expediency. Justice “concern[s] the essentials of human well-being,” which can be thought about in terms of...
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...are deemed to have a right to equality of treatment, except when some recognized social expediency requires the reverse.” Accordingly, “all social inequalities” that are not expedient are unjust, especially if...
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...real difficulty in the utilitarian theory of morals.” Doing what is just is obviously always expedient, and in this chapter he has explained why cases of justice feel different from cases...
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