An idea · Nineteenth Century · first attested 1861
Higher and Lower Pleasures
It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
Mill's modification of Bentham. Pleasures differ not only in quantity but in quality: intellectual, aesthetic, and moral pleasures are higher than bodily ones, because those who have experienced both prefer the former. The move tries to save utilitarianism from the charge that it is a doctrine fit for swine.