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First Principles
According to Mill, secondary principles are principles that can be derived directly from first principles, but that are not themselves fundamental. In the realm of ethics, this means rules that people should follow to fulfill the first ethical principle of maximizing utility or promoting the general happiness. An example of a secondary principle is the rule that it is wrong “to rob or murder, betray or deceive.”
Secondary Principles Quotes in Utilitarianism
The Utilitarianism quotes below are all either spoken by Secondary Principles or refer to Secondary Principles. 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 1
Quotes
It is not my purpose to criticize these thinkers; but I cannot help referring, for illustration, to a systematic treatise by one of the most illustrious of them, the Metaphysics of Ethics by Kant. This remarkable man, whose system of thought will long remain one of the landmarks in the history of philosophical speculation, does, in the treatise in question, lay down a universal first principle as the origin and ground of moral obligation; it is this: “So act that the rule on which thou actest would admit of being adopted as a law by all rational beings.” But when he begins to deduce from this precept any of the actual duties of morality, he fails, almost grotesquely, to show that there would be any contradiction, any logical (not to say physical) impossibility, in the adoption by all rational beings of the most outrageously immoral rules of conduct. All he shows is that the consequences of their universal adoption would be such as no one would choose to incur.
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Secondary Principles Term Timeline in Utilitarianism
The timeline below shows where the term Secondary Principles appears in Utilitarianism. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: What Utilitarianism Is
...every rule has exceptions. At least utilitarianism gives people a way to decide between different “secondary” moral principles when they come in conflict: people can appeal to the “first principle” of...
(full context)
Chapter 3: Of the Ultimate Sanction of the Principle of Utility
...idea that it is wrong “to rob or murder, betray or deceive,” is made of secondary, not primary, moral principles. So while people believe in a number of rules that help...
(full context)
