Can some goods, like friendships, be balanced against other goods, like money? The answer is no. Not only are not all pleasures commensurable, you couldn’t even devise a scale to evaluate the pleasure of biting into a perfect slice of cheese pizza and compare between all people. Some don’t like pizza.
Are all pleasures commensurable can some goods like friendships be balanced against other goods like money?
It is absolutely not all pleasures are commensurable, neither can pleasure be measured on a single scale. There are a few pleasures that cannot be defined and can only be measured abstractly without assuming a measurable value. Consider the case of evaluating some goods, such as friendship, versus money.
Are all pleasures equal?
Utilitarianism says that the basic moral principle is that we ought to do whatever promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Mill equated happiness with pleasure. But not all pleasures have equal value; higher pleasures of the mind are better than lower pleasures of the body.
Are all pleasure and pain are commensurable?
Moreover, if pleasures (or pains) do not share a unifying property, they cannot be commensurated in terms of this (non-existent) property. One way to respond to this is to concede that pleasures and pains are in fact not unified and commensurable, and that in treating them as such, we make a mistake.
What does Mill say about pleasures?
Mill’s Hedonism
Mill contends that pleasure is not merely one thing that contributes to our well-being, it’s the only thing. Similarly, only pain makes us worse off. Mill thinks that a person’s life goes well for her just insofar as she is happy. Mill defines “happiness” as pleasure and freedom from pain.
Are all pleasures commensurable can they be evaluated on a single scale can some?
Can they be evaluated on a single scale? Can some goods, like friendships, be balanced against other goods, like money? The answer is no. Not only are not all pleasures commensurable, you couldn’t even devise a scale to evaluate the pleasure of biting into a perfect slice of cheese pizza and compare between all people.
Is happiness the pursuit of pleasure?
Happiness is the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
Are all pleasures necessarily and ethically good?
Concerning the nature of pleasure, Epicurus explains that at least some pleasures are rooted in natural and, as a rule, every pain is bad and should be avoided, and every pleasure is good and should be preferred. However, there is delicate relation between pain and pleasure.
Who believed that all pleasures are equal?
Are all pleasures morally equivalent? Jeremy Bentham established utilitarianism as a dominant ethical theory, and John Stuart Mill developed it during the middle and late 19th-century.
Are all pleasurable things good?
Pleasurable things can only harm irrational people who do something which negatively affect them. Besides that, you can generate positive energy to other people. Pleasurable things do not only benefit you but it also benefits the people around you. They are positively affected.
What is meant by commensurable?
Definition of commensurable
1 : having a common measure specifically : divisible without remainder by a common unit.
Are bodily pleasures lower than intellectual pleasures?
Higher intellectual pleasures are more valuable than lower bodily pleasures. We cannot quantifiably calculate which rules produce the greatest pleasure, although we can objectively determine whether one pleasure is higher than another.
How does Mill distinguish different kinds of pleasure?
Mill delineates how to differentiate between higher- and lower-quality pleasures: A pleasure is of higher quality if people would choose it over a different pleasure even if it is accompanied by discomfort, and if they would not trade it for a greater amount of the other pleasure.
Does your own happiness matter more than the happiness of others according to Mill?
Mill argues that the only proof that something is desirable is that people actually desire it. It is a fact that happiness is a good, because all people desire their own happiness. Thus, it is clear that happiness is at least one end, and one criterion, of morality.
References:
- https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-the-philippines-system/ethics/bsa-1a-activity-do-as-what-you-can-padayon/24543041
- https://www.harryhiker.com/ms/mill–00.htm
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11406-012-9383-4
- https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2020/09/26/john-stuart-mill-on-the-good-life-higher-quality-pleasures/
- https://www.assignmentexpert.com/homework-answers/philosophy/question-318552
- https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/lyceum-of-the-philippines-university/ethics/happiness-is-the-pursuit-of-pleasure-and-the-avoidance-of-pain/19912629
- https://www.utilitarianism.com/hedonism.html
- https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/ethics_text/Chapter_6_Teleological_Theories_Utilitarianism/Insufficiency_Problems.htm
- https://newyorkessays.com/essay-how-true-is-that-most-pleasurable-things-in-life-are-bad-for-you/
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commensurable
- https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/300/utilitarian.htm
- https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utilitarianism/section2/
- https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utilitarianism/section5/