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Order Description
Morality and Ethical Theory
INSTRUCTIONS
QUESTIONS

(a) Hedonism. Is it better to be Socrates (or a Brahmin) dissatisfied than a fool satisfied? Are the pleasures of poetry better than those of push-pin? On the basis of your answer to these questions, or otherwise, what do you conclude about whether pleasure is the sole thing good in itself, and pain the only thing bad in itself? Consider in relation to the readings.
Readings
Plato. 1971. Gorgias, (Harmondsworth: Penguin): 491e-497e, pp 90-100.
Bentham, J. 1994. “Push-pin and Poetry,” in Singer, P (ed), Ethics, (Oxford: Oxford Univ Pr): pp 199-200.
Mill, J. 1962. “What Utilitarianism is,” in his Utilitarianism, On Liberty, and Essay on Bentham, (London: Collins): pp 256-263.
Epicurus. 1993. “Letter to Menoeceus,” in his The Essential Epicurus, (Buffalo: Prometheus): pp 61-68.