![]() In the process of reviewing each thinker in turn, I will try to resolve the problems that are touched but not dealt with. So my aim is to find answers that are not readily available. None of the three thinkers addressed directly the moral issue this paper raises. As giving priority to the personal good over the common good is a more difficult task than giving priority to common good over the personal good, I have paid special attention to how each of the three philosophers dealt with the former. ![]() However, Bentham, Mill and Green were all genuinely concerned with the good of the individual and all gave serious theoretical backing to this concern. We shall see that the three thinkers tended to give priority to the common good over the personal good (though this is less true of Mill than of the other two). It deals with two possible solutions to this conflict: when it is resolved in favour of the first, and when it is resolved in favour of the second. The paper focuses on the cases of irreconcilable conflict between the common good and the personal good. My task is to address each thinker in turn and see how his philosophy dealt with this problem. What happens though in cases where such a conflict exists and cannot be amicably resolved? It is a fact that cases where the personal good and the common good are antagonistic exist and the three philosophers had to face up to this fact. They would rather see these two goods-the individual and the social-as either in natural harmony with each other, or as essentially reconcilable. A common feature of the three philosophers is that each preferred to pre-empt the possibility of such a conflict. The ‘personal good’ is synonymous with ‘the good of the individual’ or with ‘personal happiness’, while the ‘common good’ is synonymous with ‘the good of society’ or ‘general happiness’. The issue this paper will address is how each thinker dealt with the potential conflict between the personal good and the common good. ![]() It will be demonstrated here that there is a notable progression of ideas from Bentham, through Mill, to Green: a progression that throws light on the nature of the good. Unlike Mill, however, Green did not see himself as a disciple of the utilitarian school, so one could question whether Green is a natural follower of the first two philosophers. The influence Bentham had on Mill, as well as the influence Bentham and Mill had on Green, is undisputed. These are thinkers of three successive generations. Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill Thomas Hill Green
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