Mill's idea that not all pleasure is the same

John Stuart Mill criticised Bentham's Utilitarianism: the main criticism was that he tried to measure pleasure in quantitative terms, which appeared to allow for some actions to be called right and good, when they seemed, to others, to be wrong

• For example, Bentham's approach appeared to conclude that gang **** would be a right action if the pleasure gained by the group of rapists exceeded that of the pain experienced by the person who had been ****d
• This also raised questions about the exact nature of 'pleasure'

The equating of happiness with good is a view that can be found in the writings of Aristotle

• He referred to it as eudaimonia
• Aristotle argued that pleasure includes the idea of well-being, living well and being fulfilled

Higher and lower pleasures
Mill  shifted his focus from the quantity of happiness and pleasure to the quality of happiness and pleasure

• He recognised…