The consistency of qualitative hedonism and the value of (at least some) malicious pleasures

Utilitas 20 (4):462-471 (2008)
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Abstract

In this article, I examine two of the standard objections to forms of value hedonism. The first is the common claim, most famously made by Bradley and Moore, that Mill's qualitative hedonism is inconsistent. The second is the apparent problem for quantitative hedonism in dealing with malicious pleasures. I argue that qualitative hedonism is consistent, even if it is implausible on other grounds. I then go on to show how our intuitions about malicious pleasure might be misleading.

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Guy Fletcher
University of Edinburgh

Citations of this work

Is pleasure all that is good about experience?Willem Deijl - 2019 - Philosophical Studies 176 (7):1-19.
Rejecting Well-Being Invariabilism.Guy Fletcher - 2009 - Philosophical Papers 38 (1):21-34.
John Stuart mill.Fred Wilson - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
J. S. mill's conception of utility.Ben Saunders - 2010 - Utilitas 22 (1):52-69.

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References found in this work

Principia Ethica.George Edward Moore - 1903 - International Journal of Ethics 14 (3):377-382.
Two distinctions in goodness.Christine M. Korsgaard - 1983 - Philosophical Review 92 (2):169-195.
The Methods of Ethics.Henry Sidgwick - 1907 - Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 30 (4):401-401.
Rethinking intrinsic value.Shelly Kagan - 1998 - The Journal of Ethics 2 (4):277-297.
Rethinking intrinsic value.Shelly Kagan - 2005 - The Journal of Ethics 2 (4):97--114.

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