"THE UTILITARIAN DOCTRINE IS THAT HAPPINESS IS A) A CRITERION, AND B) THE SOLE CRITERION, OF MORALITY" (MILL). WHAT DOES MILL MEAN BY THIS, AND IS HIS 'PROOF' OF ITS TWO PARTS SATISFACTORY?

To establish whether happiness, defined as pleasure and the absence of pain, is a and the sole criterion for morality, one must know what a criterion is. A criterion is a set of principles which are used to judge the success of actions (or things) in their relation to a given end. The principles are derivative. They derive from the end of whatever the criterion is meant to be a criterion for. Examiners, for example, have a mark scheme. The mark scheme contains a criteria which one uses to judge how successful an essay is. The mark scheme is derived from a conception of a ‘good essay’. A criterion for morality is derived from that which is morally good. It is used to determine the rightness or wrongness of an action. If happiness is part of the criterion, then it is because happiness is a derivative of the morally good. If happiness is the sole criterion, then it is because happiness is the only derivative of the morally good. The upshot would be that the maximisation of happiness is the only thing that determines whether an action is moral. This is precisely Mill’s position.