Perfectionism About Happiness And Higher Pleasures

(Summary) In Chapter 3, â€Å"Perfectionism about happiness and higher pleasures,† Mill attempts to reassure readers that the utilitarian can and will defend the superiority of higher pleasures, such as poetry. He notes that hedonism can still defend higher pursuits as extrinsically and instrumentally. To see Mill’s point, Brink states that all other things have only, or at most, extrinsic value: they have value in relation to or for the sake of something else that has intrinsic value. Mill claims that the Benthamite utilitarian cannot distinguish the intrinsic good between low and high pleasures since what is intrinsically good for them focuses only on intensity and duration and not the quality; they have an empirical issue. Mill thinks that the higher pleasures, sometimes impure or costly, still produces more pleasure indirectly by cultivating our emotional sensibilities and imagination in valuable ways. The higher pleasures should be put on a more secure footing, revealing them to be intrinsically superior. He supports his higher pleasure (quality) by linking them with preferences of a competent judges test. The competent judges test argues that the only people capable of ranking a pleasure as lower or higher than another are those who has experience in both pleasures. If the majority of competent judges chooses a pleasure over another, that pleasure ranks higher in maximizing utility and should be preferred. Mill claims that a competent judge who is capable of higherShow MoreRelatedJohn Stuart Mill And Jeremy Bentham1585 Words   |  7 Pagesof pleasure while simultaneously avoiding pain, deriving happiness only from pleasure achieved and pain avoided. John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham are two phil osophers who fall into the Utilitarian and hedonist camp. However, while both men are Utilitarian, they differ greatly in their thoughts on hedonism. 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