John Stuart Mill’s claim that the pleasures of the higher faculties are superior in quality to purely physical pleasures, because experienced and competent judges agree that they are, is derived from and best interpreted in terms of the moral psychology of Plato and Aristotle. Mill’s conception of human happiness is eudemonic rather than hedonistic. The paper analyzes Mill’s terms ‘quality’, ‘quantity’, ‘preferable in kind’, etc., and distinguishes and discusses a number of theses stated or implied by Mill about the ranking of pleasures and of modes of existence. A qualified defense of Mill’s position is proposed. When some necessary provisos are inserted and a certain amount of extrapolation and restatement is undertaken, the argument is shown to be more coherent and plausible than is commonly supposed.
