Political Science · Western Political Thought
UGC NET July 2016 Political Science
For J.S. Mill, which of the following statements is not true?
- 1. Pleasures differ in quality as well as in quantity.
- 2. Mill makes use of the non-utilitarian arguments.
- 3. The felicific calculus is absurd.
- 4. Pleasures can be objectively measured.
AII & III
BI & II
CI, II & III
DOnly IV ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) Only IV — The statement that is not true of Mill is that pleasures can be objectively measured, so the answer is 4 only.
Explanation
★The statement that is not true of Mill is that pleasures can be objectively measured, so the answer is 4 only.
★Mill modified Bentham's hedonism by holding that pleasures differ in quality as well as in quantity.
★By ranking higher intellectual pleasures above lower bodily ones, he introduced a qualitative standard.
★A purely quantitative felicific calculus cannot capture this difference of quality, so Mill departs from it.
★This qualitative move makes pleasures partly a matter of informed judgement, not exact objective measurement.
★So statements one, two, and three fit Mill, and only the claim of objective measurement is false.
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