In contemporary moral philosophy, there is considerable confusion not only about what John Stuart Mill meant by the Principle of Utility but also about the position which the Principle occupies in his moral philosophy. Many interpreters regard Mill as an act utilitarian whose Principle of Utility was identical with a qualitatively hedonistic 1 version of the first principle of act utilitarianism which affirms that we are morally obligated to perform that relevant individual act which is most likely to have the best consequences for all persons or sentient beings affected by the act. 2 Others regard him as a qualitatively hedonistic rule utilitarian and take his Principle of Utility to say that we are morally obligated to perform that relevant act which falls under a general rule, universal obedience to which would have the best consequences for all persons or sentient beings affected. 3 As a qualitative hedonist, Mill equated intrinsically good consequences with happiness, defined as "an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quantity and quality. ''4 We are thus repeatedly informed that Mill's ultimate moral principle, the Principle of Utility itself, is that we are morally bound both to maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness either through each individual act that we perform or through the societal adoption and enforcement of general rules or behavior which would maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness for the greatest possible numbers if everyone acted on the rules. I hope to show that Mill offers us a third form of utilitarianism which I shall call minimizing utilitarianism.
There are many things wrong with attempts to construe Mill as being either an act or a rule utilitarian. Both positions are maximizing utilitarianisms which maintain that we are morally obligated to maximize goodness, but Mill's utilitarianism was actually a minimizing utilitarianism which claims only that we are morally obligated to abstain from inflicting harm, to actively prevent harm, to actively provide for all persons or sentient beings certain minimal essentials of any sort of positive well being whatsoever, such as life, liberty, security, individuality and selfdetermination, food and shelter, basic education, equal opportunity to pursue