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    Mill's own distinction between higher and lower pleasures... — Carmelics
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    Supports→Pleasure is not the good

    Mill's own distinction between higher and lower pleasures concedes that pleasures differ in kind, not merely quantity, undermining hedonism's unity as a single good.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.If pleasures differ qualitatively, then pleasure alone cannot explain why we prefer poetry to pushpin—requiring appeal to non-hedonistic values.
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    • 2.Mill's competent judges consistently rank intellectual pleasures above bodily ones, suggesting a non-quantitative evaluative principle governs hedonism.
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    • 3.A unified theory of the good must identify a single metric; qualitative distinctions between pleasures introduce irreducible plurality into hedonism's foundation.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Qualitative differences can reflect quantity measured along different dimensions—complexity, duration, depth—without abandoning hedonism's monistic structure.
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    • 2.Mill's higher pleasures remain pleasures; preference rankings reflect contingent human psychology, not a conceptual flaw in hedonistic theory itself.
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    • 3.Unity as a single good requires one ultimate aim (happiness), not one type of experience; hedonism can remain unified while acknowledging pleasure's diversity.
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    Consequentialism1 linkedVirtue Ethics1 linked

    Related

    A unified theory of the good must identify a single metric; qualitative distinct...If pleasures differ qualitatively, then pleasure alone cannot explain why we pre...Mill's competent judges consistently rank intellectual pleasures above bodily on...Mill's higher pleasures remain pleasures; preference rankings reflect contingent...
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    Pleasure is not the goodQualitative differences can reflect quantity measured along different dimensions...Unity as a single good requires one ultimate aim (happiness), not one type of ex...

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