Criticisms of Benthams Hedonism

1
Criticisms of Benthams Hedonism

• Not all pleasures are qualitatively the same.
• Not all pleasures are intrinsically good.
• Mental states, including pleasures and absence of
  pain, are not the only components of well-being.
• Problem of Plural Values

2
Quantitative Hedonism vs. Qualitative Hedonism

• Bentham holds quantitative hedonism the view
  that all pleasures have equal intrinsic goodness
  as far as their quantity---intensity and
  duration---is the same, and all pains have equal
  intrinsic badness as far as their quantity is the
  same. (A to Q3b)
• However, his student Mill holds qualitative
  hedonism some pleasures can be intrinsically
  better than others even if their quantity is the
  same. (A to Q3c) Mwife

3
Qualitative Distinction Between Pleasures

• Ambiguity of qualitative difference
• Difference in kind having different qualitative
  properties
• E.g., Different Colors
• Difference in value
• E.g., Different denominations of bills

4
Qualitative Differences in Pleasures

• For Mill, pleasures can be qualitatively
  different in both senses.
• Different in kind
• Different in value between different kinds of
  pleasures

5
Qualitative Differences in Kind

• Even considered in themselves, as mere
  sensations, many pleasurable sensations feel
  different from one another.
• Pleasure of hearing your child tell you she loves
  you.
• Pleasure of eating a hot fudge sundae.

6
The Essence of Mills Argument

• Question Which life is better off the life of a
  pig (or a turtle, or whatever you like) with a
  greater quantity of pleasure, or the life of a
  person with a lesser quantity of pleasure?
• Quantitative hedonism entails that the life of
  the pig is better off.
• However, people prefer to be a person even if
  they knew that the life of the pig (or a turtle)
  has a greater quantity of pleasure.
• Then, quantitative hedonism has a
  counter-intuitive consequence. We should reject
  this view.
• There are difference in value between the kind of
  pleasures that animals can experience and the
  kind of pleasures that only persons can
  experience. This explains why people prefer the
  life of a person.

7
Questions for Thought

• Is there difference in kind among pains?
• If so, do kinds of pains differ in value?
• If so, is a human being who experiences not only
  higher kinds of pleasures but also higher kinds
  of pains better off?
• Read The Story of Good Brahmin
• Is the assumed better-off status of a human life
  really due to the differences in value between
  kinds of pleasures? Isnt this rather due to the
  superior faculties and activities of the human
  being, such as intelligence, planning,
  imagination etc.?

8
The Problem of Application

• It might be impossible to find someone who have
  experience with both.
• E.g. Is it possible for a person to have the
  experiences of the kinds of pleasures that a pig
  feel, e.g., the kind of pleasures it gets from
  wallowing in the mud?
• If this is impossible, a person is not a good
  judge in comparing the pigs pleasure with his.
  Then, his preference to a persons life over a
  pigs life might be unreliable.
• Note that Mill has responses. First, even if we
  have not wallowed, we might still get the same
  kind of pleasures as mental states. Second, the
  similarity of our and animals responses and
  neuro-anatomy, coupled with evolutionary link,
  make it probable that we can experience the same
  kinds of pleasures as non-human animals
  experience.

9
Criticisms of Benthams Quantitative Hedonism

• Not all pleasures are qualitatively the same.
• Not all pleasures are intrinsically good.
• Pleasure and absence of pain are not the only
  components of well-being.
• Problem of Plural Values

10
Not all Pleasures are Intrinsically Good

• It seems that sadistic pleasures are bad. But
  Hedonism entails that they are intrinsically
  good.
• Reply for Hedonists Intrinsic vs. Instrumental.
• Sadistic pleasures are intrinsically good, but
  they are instrumentally bad in that they tend to
  produce bad results. So on the whole, sadistic
  pleasures are bad.