Deck 4: The Good Life

Question 1

Talk about:
-Autonomy

Answer 1

the power to guide our life through our own free choices.

Question 2

Talk about:
-Desire satisfaction theory

Answer 2

the view that something is intrinsically good for you if it satisfies your desires, only if it satisfies your desires, and because it satisfies your desires.

Question 3

Talk about:
-Hedonism

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Talk about:
-Intrinsically valuable

Question 5

Talk about:
-Instrumental goods

Question 6

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?

Question 7

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?

Question 8

Briefly describe an example of an intuitively valuable life (it can be someone you know personally or someone you just know of). Explain what makes their life valuable. Does hedonism do a good job of capturing all the dimensions of value in the life in your example? Why or why not?

Question 9

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?

Question 10

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.

Question 11

Mill defines happiness as

A) having a positive attitude toward one's life.
B) pleasure and the absence of pain.
C) the feeling of tranquility that accompanies philosophical reflection.
D) the accomplishment of one's goals and projects.

Question 12

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

A) is more intense than the second.
B) lasts longer than the second.
C) is preferred to the second by those who have experienced both kinds.
D) is more likely than the second to lead to more pleasure in the future.

Question 13

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

A) human beings possess higher faculties than pigs.
B) pigs live much shorter lives than humans.
C) the lives of human beings contain much more variety than those of pigs.
D) human beings have more freedom than pigs.

Question 14

Mill claims that the only evidence we can have that something is desirable is that

A) it is recommended by philosophers.
B) people actually desire it.
C) people have been doing it for a long time.
D) pursuing it does not treat anyone unfairly.

Question 15

According to Mill, there is nothing ultimately desired except

A) happiness.
B) virtue.
C) wisdom.
D) All of the above

Question 16

What does Mill mean by "unhappiness?"

A) Having a negative attitude toward one's life
B) Pain and the privation of pleasure
C) The feeling of anxiety that accompanies ignorance
D) The failure of one's goals and projects

Question 17

According to Mill, the desirability of a pleasure is determined by its

A) quality alone.
B) quantity alone.
C) quality and quantity.
D) None of the above

Question 18

According to Mill, what are the liabilities of being a being with "higher faculties?"

A) More is required to make such a being happy.
B) Such a being is capable of more acute suffering.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 19

How does Mill explain the fact that some people pursue lower pleasures rather than higher ones?

A) Such people prefer lower pleasures to higher ones.
B) Such people are incapable of experiencing higher pleasures.
C) Such people are wicked.
D) There are no such people.

Question 20

According to Mill, the view that only the quantity of pleasure matters (and not its quality) is

A) false.
B) a doctrine worthy only of swine.
C) true.
D) Both a and b

Question 21

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

Question 22

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?

Question 23

Write an essay critically assessing Mill's doctrine of "higher" and "lower" pleasures. How does Mill think we can determine which kinds of pleasure are most valuable? Do you find his standard plausible? Why or why not? Which kinds of pleasure does Mill claim are most valuable? Do you agree with him about this? Defend your answer.

Question 24

Nozick's aim in discussing the experience machine is to

A) describe a device that he predicts will soon be invented and widely used.
B) give an example of a machine that he thinks will be forever beyond our technological capabilities.
C) create a thought experiment that sheds light on what we value in life.
D) show that pleasure is the only thing desirable in itself.

Question 25

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

A) suicide.
B) lying.
C) stealing.
D) injustice.

Question 26

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

A) we couldn't be sure whether it was going to malfunction.
B) we would not actually be able to do anything in the experience machine.
C) our loved ones might need us while we are inside the machine.
D) technology is inherently bad.

Question 27

While in the experience machine, Nozick claims, we would be

A) courageous.
B) loving.
C) whatever we wanted to be.
D) an indeterminate blob.

Question 28

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

A) pleasure is the only thing desirable for its own sake.
B) technology is helpful but can be dangerous when taken too far.
C) we often desire things that are not good for us.
D) we care about things besides how our lives feel from the inside.

Question 29

If all that mattered to us were our experiences, then we would enter the

A) experience machine.
B) transformation machine.
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 30

According to Nozick, the most disturbing thing about the experience, transformation, and results machines is that they all

A) deprive us of actual contact with reality.
B) deprive us of accomplishments.
C) live our lives for us.
D) All of the above

Question 31

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

A) Objective theories
B) Hedonism
C) Desire satisfaction theories
D) All of the above

Question 32

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

A) We want to do certain things with our lives.
B) We want to be a certain kind of person.
C) There is no contact with reality inside the machine.
D) We cannot serve other people once we are inside the machine.

Question 33

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

A) To live in contact with reality
B) To feel deeply loved
C) To feel that we've achieved something truly great
D) To never have to worry about the future

Question 34

Explain Nozick's "experience machine" thought experiment. Would you plug into the experience machine? Why or why not? What do you think this shows about the good life?

Question 35

Write an essay critically assessing Nozick's reasons for not plugging in to the experience machine. Explain each reason clearly, and then say whether you think it is a good reason not to plug in. Defend your answers.

Question 36

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.

Question 37

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 do you think about the case of the Blob? Does the Blob live a good life? If not, what does this say about hedonism? What does it say about desire satisfaction theories?

Question 38

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.