...course, is to prove that happiness is desirable. "The only proof capable of being given," says Mill, "that an object is visible, is that people actually...it; and so of the other sources of our experience, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people...

...are so. The following invalid argument from Mill's Utilitarianism seems to fall under this head. " The only proof capable of being given that an object...proof that a sound is audible, is that people hear it. ... In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable,...

...fallacy in a passage in his Utilitarianism,1 which has since become classical in this connexion : " The only proof capable of being given that an object...see it. The only proof that a sound is audible is because people hear it : and so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, I apprehend,...

...trying to prove that the chief good, or one thing desirable, is pleasure. ' The only proof, he says, ' capable .of being given that an object is visible,...manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to pro1 This example was given me from personal recollection. Not unlike this fallacy, understood as consisting...

...II, p. 5 (Eng. trans.). • Lesions in Logic, p. 175. the chief good. " The only proof," he writes, " capable of being given that an object is visible is...produce that anything is desirable, is that people actually desire it." But' visible' and ' audible ' mean what can be seen and heard, while ' desirable...

...Utilitarianism. He is trying to prove that pleasure is the chief good. " The only proof," he writes, " capable of being given that an object is visible is...produce that anything is desirable, is that people actually desire it." But' visible' and ' audible ' mean what can be seen and heard, while ' desirable...

...for happiness, it does not follow that they are right in doing so. To this objection Mill answers : " The sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable is that people actually desire it. ... No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that...

...happen to a single individual. The best known instance is Mill's famous fallacy: — The only proof that an object is visible is that people actually...only proof that a sound is audible is that people actually hear it. And so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, the sole evidence...

...we believe it to be a desirable end, and the only desirable end. "The only proof," writes Mill,* " capable of being given that an object is visible is that people actually see it. ... In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable...

...visible is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible is that people actually hear it. And so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, the sole evidence that anything is desirable, is that people actually desire it. People do actually...