穆勒论证“快乐是善”的有效性分析

The Validity of Mill’s Proof of “Happiness is Good”

穆勒在《功利主义》一书中从经验性的心理事实出发对“快乐是善”这一价值命题作出论证,以人们“实际欲求快乐”为前提得出“快乐值得欲求”的结论。关于穆勒对“快乐是善”的论证,以摩尔为代表的一些学者提出质疑和批评,认为穆勒从事实命题出发推出价值命题的论证是无效的。但是,这些质疑和批评并没有完全驳倒穆勒的证明,根据穆勒对“证明”含义的宽泛性阐释以及对穆勒提出的经验性心理事实的考察,有理由认为穆勒从“实际欲求”到“值得欲求”的论证是有效的,尽管这只是一个强度比较弱的论证。

In Utilitarianism, Mill demonstrated the principle of value theory-“Happiness is good” based on empirical psychological facts and concluded that “Happiness is desirable” on the premise that “Happiness is desired”.As for Mill’s proof of “Happiness is good”,some scholars,represented by Moore,have raised doubts and criticized that Mill’s proof of deriving value proposition from fact proposition is invalid.Questioned and criticized but these were not completely refute the Mill’s proof.According to a broader explanation of “prove” and empirical psychological facts Mill proposed,there are reasons to think that Mill’s proof from “desired” to “desirable” is valid,although this is just a type of weak argument.