Exam 4: The Good Life

Case Study In her essay "The Meanings of Lives," Susan Wolf asks us to consider a case she calls "The Blob." The Blob is a person who spends every day sitting in front of the TV, drinking beer, and watching reruns of the same shows. Imagine that this is truly all the Blob does, day after day. But nevertheless, the Blob is perfectly content-it is all he wants and it makes him happy. He has no health or financial problems, or other things to worry about. This is an extreme example, but not terribly unrealistic. There are some people who have such low expectations for their lives that they are perfectly content engaging in the same seemingly meaningless activities day after day. Such cases might lead us to wonder whether some subjective condition, like pleasure and the absence of pain, or the satisfaction or our desires, is really all there is to living a good life. -What of value (if anything) do you think the Blob's life is missing? What do you think this says about the nature of the good life? Source: S. Wolf, "The Meanings of Lives." In The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

According to Nozick, plugging in to the experience machine would be a kind of

Mill claims that one kind of pleasure is superior to another if the first kind of pleasure

Explain what Mill means by "happiness." Then, propose an alternative definition. According to which definition is hedonism most plausible? Explain and defend your response.

Talk about: -Autonomy

Mill defines happiness as

What kind of theory of the good life would best explain Nozick's reasons for not plugging into the experience machine? How much support do you think this provides for that kind of theory? Defend your answers.

Which of the following theories of a good life is the experience machine a threat to?

Explain the difference between intrinsic value and instrumental value and give examples of things you take to be valuable in each way. Next, define hedonism. What does the hedonist claim is intrinsically valuable and what do they claim is instrumentally valuable? Do you agree?

According to Mill, there is nothing ultimately desired except

Explain Nozick's "experience machine" thought experiment. According to hedonism, should you plug in to the experience machine? Why or why not? What does this tell us about the plausibility of hedonism?

Nozick claims that we should not get into the experience machine because

What does Nozick think that we desire that the experience machine can't provide?

Mill claims that it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied because

Talk about: -Instrumental goods

Which of the following is not one of Nozick's reasons for not plugging in to the experience machine?

Explain the desire satisfaction theory of the good life. What are some of its advantages and some of its disadvantages? Do you think the desire satisfaction can capture everything about what makes for a good life? Why or why not?

From the experience machine thought experiment, Nozick thinks we should conclude that

Write an essay critically examining the following claim: "Something is good for us only if it satisfies our desires." Are there any cases in which we can be benefited without having any of our desires satisfied? Present a couple of cases that might be thought to have this feature and describe how you think a desire satisfaction theorist would respond.

Explain what you take to be the most forceful objection to Mill's hedonism. How do you think Mill would respond to this objection? Ultimately, do you find this response satisfying? Why or why not?