SOURCE: "A Critical Assessment," in Happiness, Justice, and Freedom: The Moral and Political Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, University of California Press, 1984, pp. 279-99.

In the following excerpt, Berger focuses on limitations in Mill's philosophical writings whereby certain concepts, like morality, happiness, justice, and freedom, are not always defined in clear, logical terms.

There are many unresolved problems to be faced by a utilitarian holding views such as those of Mill. While I believe the theories I have attributed to him are considerably stronger philosophically than those with which he is usually saddled, there are a great many further difficulties that can be raised. In this concluding section of the book, I shall sketch some of the chief ones. These are problems that I regard as important either to Mill's version of utilitarianism, or to utilitarianisms of all kinds.

The "naturalistic" Foundations of Morality

I shall begin by...