Comparing Mill's The Contrast And The Visit

Mill claims that the only people suited to make a comparison between the value of two things are only those who have experienced both. For example, I am not a competent judge whether the movie “If I stay” is better then the movie “The visit”, unless I have seen both movies. In this case I have never seen “The Visit”, therefore I am not a competent judge to value and compare the two movies. If I did compare, it would be bias. Competent judges can also be bias from the start because they are preferred by intellectuals. It is human nature that can sway us in one direction or the other. Let’s say a competent judge had seen the two movies listed above. “The Visit” is a horror film and “If I stay is” is a sad young-adult fiction. Even though they had seen both, their judgment would not be exactly …show more content…
Pleasure is what brings them happiness and that is one of the ultimate goals in life. Mill believes that all higher pleasures are better, but what if this experience was forced? A lot of people enjoy sex but when it is forcible it is now rape and rape is no where near linked to pleasure. Another example would be what are the odds a person would like bungee jumping if they were pushed off the bridge? This further proves that competent judges are already smart individuals before they choose their pleasures. By having this pre-requirement people believe what judges say because they are preferred by intellectuals. This ties in with circularity because Mill already has a set of which pleasures are best in his mind in order to choose who is a competent judge and who is not. The circularity goes like this: what pleasure would be the best?, the better pleasures are the ones that are preferred by the judges, but who are the judges?, the judges are the people who prefer that better pleasure. This circle can go on forever because Mill will always pick the smarter individuals who will agree with his own