Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher - Chapter 4: Mill
Part 5 of 7, of a playthrough of "Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher". Socrates Jones speaks with Mill, the favorite philosopher of his daughter Ari. Mill claims that happiness is the foundation of morality. The moral value of an act corresponds directly to the amount of happiness it creates.
Mill believes the distribution of happiness is irrelevant. That is, it does not matter if an act makes some people happy and some people unhappy. The net happiness is all that matters. This leads to some unfortunate consequences, such as "it's moral to hurt other people, as long as it makes enough people happy."
Mill corrects his argument, by applying universal rules. These rules will occasionally have to be revised and given nuance. Socrates points out that this rule utilitarianism is flawed, to the point that it leads directly back to act utilitarianism. Ari is very upset to hear this argument, and she reveals that she put her life on the line, so her father would have this chance to return to life.