> >"The good of the many outweigh the good of the
> >one." - Mr Spock!
> >
> >That is unless you follow the teachings of J S Mill, who decided that
> >some people are worth more than others ....
>
> Mill originated Utilitarianism, according to which the greatest
> good is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Which is
> probably where Spock's scriptwriter was coming from. Did Mill
> really suggest that some are worth more than others? Reference,
> please!
The Spock quote was merely a quote from Star Trek that was presumably
lifted straight from standard Utilitarianism, and I'm quite sure that
the script-writer was aware of this.
Mill suggested that there should be some kind of pluralist voting
system, where some people were entitled to more votes than others. The
grounding for this was in the idea that some people are better at making
judgements than others. That's where I got that from. I can't remember
which book that was in, but it could have been "On Representative
Government". The other possibility would be "On Liberty", but I really
don't remember which text I took the example from.
--
Drakir
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"We are the New Breed ... We are the Future"
http://members.tripod.com/~Drahcir/
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