High and Low Pleasures

By: Cesia Cubias

 Hedonism is the view that life is good to the extent
Hedonism
that it is filled with pleasure and is free of pain, and

to live a hedonistic lifestyle is to live and behave in

ways that give you the most pleasure and

satisfaction with yourself (Shafer-Landau pg.46).

John Stuart Mill’s This theory differs from all other forms of
Theory hedonism because it focuses on the quality of

the pleasure rather than the amount of happiness

that is received. Mill expressed that there are

higher and lower pleasures and that higher

pleasures are sought out more and are more

valuable to the person.

 “It is better to be a The satisfactions of a human are more valuable
than those of a pig.
human being Why would the dissatisfaction of Socrates be
dissatisfied than a pig greater than the satisfaction of a fool?
satisfied; better to be Mill measures the quality of pleasure based on
Socrates dissatisfied the amount of intelligence, claiming that
intelligence brings the most pleasure in life.
than a fool satisfied.” -
J.S. Mill (Colbert)
Hedonism In Life ● Moving from Belize to Texas

● Being the youngest in my class

Trying to stay positive:
● Covid-19 affected my senior year of high

school

● Changing college plans

● Realization and finding the positive in life

Hedonism in my future ● I already had a passion for helping others
career in the medical field

● I have studied health science since high

school and is studying to apply to nursing

program

● Applying hedonism to your work mindset

allows the patient to trust the nurse.

Positive thinking will ● True hedonism cannot be practiced
bring the most pleasure because of the “normal” amount of pain

● Positive thinking will allow you to

rationalize your thoughts

● This will result in a higher quality of

pleasure
Works Cited “Chapter 4, The Good Life, Hedonism.” Living Ethics: An

Introduction with Readings, by Russ Shafer-Landau,

Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 46.

Colbert, Stephen, director. Higher and Lower Pleasure. YouTube,

YouTube, 9 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=aptx2oQ4AHs.

Sönmez, Betül, et al. “The Correlations between Nursing and

Medical Students' Values and Social Innovation

Tendencies.” Florence Nightingale Hemsirelik Dergisi,

U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Oct. 2019,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8127581/.