2nd Misunderstanding of Utilitarianism

In class today, we covered utilitarianism and established that it is a form of Hedonism, which involves the pursuit of pleasure. After declaring what Mill calls the greatest happiness principle, actions are morally good inasmuch as they produce the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people, we then eventually covered five of what Mill considers to be the ten misunderstandings people have of utilitarianism. The second misunderstanding is that people find utilitarianism as base and demeaning because it reduces the meaning of life to pleasure. Mill argues that human pleasures differ from animal pleasures and states that we have a choice between higher pleasures (distinctly human) and lower pleasures (shared with animals). The question was raised: if people did not have to work would they do nothing? Some responded with a resounding ‘no’ and explained that people would become too bored and would be unhappy with simply not having mental stimulation and something to occupy their time. I also thought about something I had learned in a Sunday school lesson before. People have always been accustomed to doing some type of work. Before Adam and Eve had sinned, they spent their time working in the garden. Work helps to keep people growing mentally and possibly physically depending on the task they do. Although taking leisure time is great every now and then, to simply do nothing for so long can become boring. Mill, I think, would concur that a person would not be content in doing nothing. On page 18 Mill states: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” Animals have the lower pleasure because their minds only focus on pleasing their needs and themselves while human beings can opt to achieve higher pleasures to obtain happiness. The previous quote encourages the idea that being a human being and dissatisfied is better than being a pig and acquiring all the pleasures it desires. Overall, I agree with the notion that people would not be content at not having to work and do nothing all day because in some cases people want to be active.