Pleasures
I agree with Mill in that there are many more pleasures we as humans feel than what pigs feel. We discussed in class carnal pleasures, such as food, sex, and sleep, intellectual pleasures such as reading and learning, and spiritual pleasures, such as love, achieving a goal, and friendship. However, I disagree with Mill when he says that people enjoy intellectual and spiritual pleasures more than carnal pleasures. I think that it is very difficult to rate how each activity makes you feel because they are all very different and even though they all increase happiness, they do so in different ways. The feeling of happiness one experiences after eating chocolate cake is very different than the feeling of learning more about philosophy.
I believe the main difference between these pleasures is time. Carnal pleasures give you instant gratification while others require hard work at times. Some people do not enjoy working hard to be happy. Most people would rather have a delicious snack and put on the TV after they get home from a long day at work rather than reading about any of Mills ideas, except maybe our professor. Although, the time and work someone puts into a friendship, marriage, or even understanding our textbook can be much more gratifying than taking a nap. So the question is, is it more satisfying to acquire happiness instantaneously, or does putting effort into it make it more rewarding?
Victoria said,
June 3, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I agree that you can not say that everyone likes intellctuial and spiritual pleasures more than carnal pleasures , because everyone has their own feeling about each one. Each one affects someone in a different way, like you said comparing the snack and reading Mills. It depends on the person and what they feel in each pleasure.
ndianapal1 said,
June 4, 2007 at 6:53 am
i understand what you are saying and i like that you added in that carnal pleasures leas to instant gratification. It was an idea i toyed with as to whether or not to include it in my entry. I believe this is a very important point, and is worth looking more deeply into. Instant gratification… to me, that changes the odds a little bit, does this idea, or could this idea lead people to WANT a lilttle bit of carnal pleasure along with the intellectual pleasure? i think this opens of gateways in Mills theory that maybe he did not think about, maybe it would be allright to want some instant gratification every once in a while as along as we did not become swine about it.