Which of the following best captures Mill’s account of the internal sanction that gives morality its binding authority?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Mill’s account of the internal sanction is that morality’s binding authority comes from a felt conscience — an internalized social feeling that produces remorse or discomfort when one contemplates wrongdoing.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Mill (in Utilitarianism) distinguishes external sanctions (laws, social pressure, divine punishment) from the internal sanction. 
- The internal sanction is psychological: feelings of conscience, moral approbation or remorse, and sympathy with others. 
- Sympathy and social feelings are the basis for our moral motives; education and reflection develop the conscience so that moral rules have motivational force.

2. Step-by-step reasoning
- Mill asks what makes moral rules binding. He rejects the idea that utility alone, as an abstract principle, compels action; instead, people are motivated by feelings.
- The external sanctions (reward/punishment from others or God) can influence behavior, but Mill emphasizes an inward motive: the “displeasure” or guilt felt when one contemplates violating duty.
- That inward feeling arises from social sympathy — we care about others’ happiness — and from a cultivated conscience formed by habit, reflection, and social influences.
- Therefore the internal sanction that gives morality authority is this felt conscience: guilt, remorse, or discomfort tied to our sympathetic nature.

3. Calculations
- Not applicable.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- Option (b) explicitly identifies guilt/discomfort linked to social sympathy and a developed conscience, which directly matches Mill’s description of the internal sanction as an internal feeling that motivates moral behavior.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- (a) Describes Kantian autonomy and reason, not Mill’s sentimentalist/utilitarian account. 
- (c) “None” is wrong because Mill does provide an account. 
- (d) Suggests Stoic/rational self-control; Mill emphasizes feelings and sympathy rather than purely rational mastery of passions. 
- (e) Focuses on Aristotelian habituation within a civic order; while habit plays a role, Mill’s key element is sympathy-produced conscience, not chiefly civic structure.

6. Conclusion
- The correct choice is b) A feeling of guilt or discomfort tied to social sympathy and developed conscience, which matches the provided answer.

Which of the following best captures Mill’s account of the internal sanction that gives morality its binding authority?Single choice

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