Department of Philosophy presents
Bruce A. Russell
Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State University
Mill's Defense of a Rawlsian Conception of Social Justice
I first defend an interpretation of what Mill means by "happiness" and offer what I take to be his analysis of "wrong." I then argue that Mill is a unique kind of rule utilitarian where the role of the Greatest Happiness Principle is not only to determine what the relevant rules are but also to adjudicate conflicts when, and only when, those rules prescribe incompatible actions. I argue that Mill would accept Rawls's three principles of social justice and appeal to quotes from both standard and rarely discussed Mill texts to defend this claim. In the final section, I argue that Mill's defense of those three principles rests on certain empirical assumptions, though not the ones that Rawls and others typically attribute to utilitarians, and that Rawls's defense of his three principles is superior because it does not rely on empirical assumptions.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
2:30 p.m.
1163 Chrysler Hall North
All are welcome.