Higher and Lower Pleasures Essay

• Do you agree with Mill’s assertion that some pleasures are higher than others? What would you consider higher and lower pleasures? JS Mill's has been depicted as one of the most prominent English-speaking philosophers of the 19th century, Mills wrote “it is better to be human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. Simply meaning a human is higher than a pig and Socrates is higher than a fool. Mills explains how to differentiate between higher- and lower-attributes of pleasures. I can somewhat agree with Mills that some pleasures could be considered higher than others. I believe that Mills is debating that a superior pleasure is more of an experience, such as reading, traveling the world, attending an opera, attaining personal goals or discussing philosophy, whereas lower pleasures focuses mainly on the actual physical pleasures such as eating, drinking or sexual pleasures. However, in Mills assertion…

utility as pleasure, with the absence of pain. He presents utilitarianism as a view that utilitarians perceive to be the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. This is implied by the theory that the right action is accepted in terms of the consequences produced. Mill believes everything is derived from this desire for happiness, and it is the sole basis of morality. Derived from this…

this constitutes a “wrong” action. Here, happiness means pleasure which comes with the absence of pain, and unhappiness…

maximize utility or happiness in every situation but Mills thinks we should maximize utility in the long run. It will cause greater happiness in the future if we respect each other’s rights. Mill’s wrote a long essay called, Utilitarianism, which showed there is way to distinguish higher pleasures from lower ones. Bentham recognized no difference between the quality of higher…

response into to two bipolar dimensions of pleasure and arousal, is considered here to capture individuals’ affective response to status-dissimilar others. In this model, pleasure refers to the valence of emotional actions, ranging from positive side to negative side. And arousal refers to the intensity of emotional actions, ranging from high to low (Lane, Chua, & Dolan, 1999). This model clearly identifies four sets of emotions: high pleasure and high arousal (HPHA) (e.g., excited), high…

low pleasures. This difference would be separated into intellectual pleasures, such as reading a good book, and sensory pleasures, like eating a savory piece of chocolate. While creating this divide between high and low pleasures, Mill explains that in an intellectual pleasure you would receive not a higher quantity but a higher quality of pleasure. Basically in layman 's terms Mill is saying that no matter how much chocolate you eat or how good it may…

is seen not only as a supporter of utilitarianism but also one who promotes eudaimonistic utilitarianism which “defines happiness in terms of higher-order pleasures or satisfactions such as intellectual, aesthetic, and social enjoyments” (Mill, 104). The lower pleasures of life would be things that we thoroughly enjoy, but are temporary and if overused could cause pain such as eating, drinking, sexual activities, and sleeping. These lower pleasures are things that people always enjoy, but are…

Introduction: According to Webster, utilitarianism is defined by “the theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest number” (Merriam-Webster, 1). John Stuart Mill published Utilitarianism in 1861, in which he introduced a reinforced version of utilitarianism. His idea of utilitarianism presumes that all human kind should act in a way that only actions that benefit a vast amount of happiness or quantity should be acted upon. Given this,…

Mill's writings defines pleasure as avoiding pain. He goes on to describe pleasure as taking form. These forms can consist of "beauty, of ornament, or of amusement" (Mill,1863). Pleasure is ranked lower if the pleasure is primal like sex or eating, higher ranked pleasures are more intellectual. If you choose between reading the Odyssey and spending time eating a cake you are choosing between high and low pleasures. Animals are able to only have lower pleasures they do not debate with other…

thereby delineate the theory. (Mill 2017, p12) observes that many people misunderstand utilitarianism by interpreting utility as in opposition to pleasure. In reality, a utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. Thus another name for utility is the Greatest Happiness Principle. This principle holds that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the…