ABSTRACT
In the beginning of his essay Utility of Religion, John Stuart Mill maintains that if religion, or any particular form of it, is true, its usefulness follows without other proof. This chapter sketches the main features of Mill's humanistic alternative, and also presents the two reasons that he offers for thinking that humanism is indeed superior to religion. It considers three different questions that might be raised in relation to Mill's humanism. The first two concern potential drawbacks or disadvantages of humanism in comparison to religion, whereas the third instead concerns motivation. According to Mill's utilitarian ethic, happiness is the only thing that is desirable for its own sake. In Auguste Comte and Positivism, Mill suggests that people should conceive of Humanity, or Mankind, as composed, in the past, solely of those who, in every age and variety of position, have played their part worthily in life.
