Mill's Essay: Happiness Is The Only Intrinsic Good
I will outline why Mill believes that happiness is the only intrinsic good, raise a problem with his argument, explain why it is a problem by referring to the argument from multiple harms, and how it showcases faults of hedonism.
According to Mill, happiness is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable. This theory is known as hedonism, and claims that being happy is mandatory and beneficial for living a good life. In this scenario, happiness is actually defined as the existence of pleasure and absence of pain. Mill believes that happiness is the only intrinsic good because “everything else is valuable only to the extent that it makes us happy” (Fund. of Ethics, 24.) But Mill’s central principle of morality also claims that actions are …show more content…
According to Nozick, hedonism is wrong when it claims that happiness is the only intrinsically valuable thing. He supports this claim by imagining being able to choose between everyday reality, and a preferable simulated reality where any experiences we could desire or find pleasurable would happen. By introducing this idea of an altered reality, also known as his Experience Machine, he is able to provide supporting claims for his view. Nozick believes that if happiness were the only intrinsic value, people would have a great reason to enter his controlled, alternate reality.
By observing people’s hesitations on entering the experience machine, Nozick is further able to provide proof on that supports his argument of why hedonism is false. Nozick provides us with three reasons not to plug into the machine. 1) We value actually doing certain things, and just having the feeling of doing them would not be sufficient. "It is only because we first want to do the actions that we want the experiences of doing them." (Nozick, 43) 2) We value being a certain type of person. "Someone floating in a tank is an indeterminate blob." (Nozick, 43) 3) Plugging into an experience machine limits us to a man-made reality, and this in part limits what we create in our lives... "There is no actual contact with
According to Mill, happiness is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable. This theory is known as hedonism, and claims that being happy is mandatory and beneficial for living a good life. In this scenario, happiness is actually defined as the existence of pleasure and absence of pain. Mill believes that happiness is the only intrinsic good because “everything else is valuable only to the extent that it makes us happy” (Fund. of Ethics, 24.) But Mill’s central principle of morality also claims that actions are …show more content…
According to Nozick, hedonism is wrong when it claims that happiness is the only intrinsically valuable thing. He supports this claim by imagining being able to choose between everyday reality, and a preferable simulated reality where any experiences we could desire or find pleasurable would happen. By introducing this idea of an altered reality, also known as his Experience Machine, he is able to provide supporting claims for his view. Nozick believes that if happiness were the only intrinsic value, people would have a great reason to enter his controlled, alternate reality.
By observing people’s hesitations on entering the experience machine, Nozick is further able to provide proof on that supports his argument of why hedonism is false. Nozick provides us with three reasons not to plug into the machine. 1) We value actually doing certain things, and just having the feeling of doing them would not be sufficient. "It is only because we first want to do the actions that we want the experiences of doing them." (Nozick, 43) 2) We value being a certain type of person. "Someone floating in a tank is an indeterminate blob." (Nozick, 43) 3) Plugging into an experience machine limits us to a man-made reality, and this in part limits what we create in our lives... "There is no actual contact with