PART II: KANT vs MILL - Mill and the Concept of Quality in Pleasure
Mill introduced the notion of quality into pleasure. Some pleasures are better than others (and it would appear that some discomfort, like Socrates dissatisfied, is better than pleasure), have greater value. Thus pleasures such as knowledge, freedom, well-being, love etc. also come under the label of pleasure. But what makes one pleasure "better" than another? What is the criteria for making such distinctions? And are pleasures of the intellect still within the confines of the pleasure-pain principle? Are the so-called higher pleasures still pleasures the way that bodily pleasures in the youth-oriented world of MTV are experienced as pleasure? It would seem that there is some intrinsic quality that makes intellectual and spiritual activities more than or different from physical pleasures.
There is one last distinction that relates to Utilitarianism that I would like to make: there is what is called act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism. Again, all sorts of problems are raised by this distinction which I cannot hope to go into to, but it is important to note these two types of Utilitarianism to help you with the selected reading on Utilitarianism in your text. The selection, I might add, is not the most representative one the editor could have chosen for beginning students. Do the best with it that you can.