John Stewart Mill

Mill states that higher pleasures are qualitatively better than lower pleasures and are of the mind, for example: Reading, viewing artwork, listening to classical music.

Lower pleasures are of the body and less enjoyable than mindful pleasures, for example: Sex, eating, and drinking alcohol.

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.”

Mill believes we must find an accurate balance of both higher and lower pleasures to reach a benchmark standard of morality, and only when we become experienced habitually, self conciously and self-observant can we reach this benchmark.