Balance of Pleasure

Through the discussions held in class as well as the assigned readings from Mill’s Utilitarianism, I have been brought to the conclusion that the theory of well-being is the most defensible. Within well-being, the most defensible theory would be that of the mental state view, which states that pleasure is the basis for true happiness. Considering the fact that Mill believes “right” actions are ones that maximize the good and minimize the bad, it seems ridiculous to argue that increasing one’s own pleasure would be going against Mill’s belief, especially due to the circumstance that pleasure is often viewed as a good thing.

As humans, it would appear that when placed in a situation where a decision must be made, we would choose the option that would increase pleasure because pleasure makes us feel good, thus increasing the good in our lives. Mill mentions the argument that if we are only to act upon things based off pleasure, we would be swinish and at the same level as animals; however, he implies that it is necessary to consider that there are levels of pleasure and that not all pleasurable things are “swinish”. Due to these varying levels of pleasure, one is able to still act with intentions of pleasure as a goal, yet not be overloaded with pleasure, which would then cause them to be considered animalistic. For example, if an individual is to eat one or two cookies, something they find to be pleasurable, that individual is not being piggish; but, if that same individual were to eat fifty cookies, it would seem there would be a pleasure overload, and only then would that person be considered swinish.

With the argument that pleasure has somewhat of a spectrum and is not just extremes, the rationality of this theory is supported. Personally, I believe balance in life is an important concept to grasp. Too much or too little of something would seem to be unhealthy and increasing the bad in life; that is why it is important to balance the pleasure in life just as you would balance other aspects, even something as simple as food as I mentioned in the cookie example. Due to the spectrum of pleasure, it is very possible to increase pleasure, thus increasing good, without going overboard and becoming swinish, as long as balance is kept.