PHIL 2131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: John Stuart Mill, Hot Tub, Prefrontal Cortex
Document Summary
Well-being, welfare: how well one"s life is going for oneself. Goods: instrumental goods: things that have value bc of what they bring about and make possible, intrinsic goods: goods whose goodness is self-contained, valuable in their own right. Hedonism: the view that a life is good to the extent that it is led with pleasure and free of pain: physical pleasure v. attitudinal pleasure (enjoyment, hedonists equate happiness with attitudinal pleasure, not physical pleasure. Physical: hot tub jets, cannot exist without certain mental state. Attitudinal pleasures seem more worth-while than physical pleasures. You can have physical pleasures that are not good at that moment for you and that you cannot enjoy because you are not in the right state of mind. Physical pleasure only counts for a hedonist if it translates into attitudinal pleasure. Eating spicy food: the pain is good if you like spicy food, someone who doesn"t like spicy foods leads to attitudinal displeasure.