Talk at Koç, this Friday 16.00 (April 26th): Mehmet Erginel ‘Plato and Mill on Pleasure and the Appeal to Experience’

Koç univeristy, Building SNA, Room 158, from 16.00

ABSTRACT: Mill argues, in chapter 2 of his Utilitarianism, that pleasures may be evaluated in terms of not only quantity as Bentham had supposed, but also quality. According to the ‘qualitative hedonism’ that Mill develops, a pleasure is of higher quality than another if it is preferred by those who are “competently acquainted with both”. It is well-known that a precursor of this famous argument appears in Book IX of Plato’s Republic, in a pivotal role for one of the three proofs for the overarching thesis of the dialogue, that the just man is happier than the unjust. In the second proof (580c-583b), Plato argues that for the purpose of comparing the pleasantness of alternative kinds of life, we may treat the judgment of philosophers as authoritative, since they are, like Mill’s “competent judges”, superior with respect to experience (empeiria) as well as wisdom (phronesis) and reason (logos). (581e) The appeal to the judgment of those with greater experience with a variety of pleasures leads, in both Plato’s and Mill’s versions, to the conclusion that philosophical/intellectual pleasures are superior qua pleasures. While the parallelism between the two arguments is striking, scholars have typically offered no more than a mention in passing, without a detailed examination of the differences between them. In this paper, I argue that on a careful reading of both texts, Plato’s use of the appeal to experience is more compelling for a number of reasons, and less vulnerable to some of the common objections. First, Plato’s argument presupposes his tripartition of the soul and aims to establish the greater pleasantness of a life ruled by the rational as opposed to the spirited or appetitive parts of the soul, enabling him to limit the challenges to the philosopher’s experience. Second, Plato’s appeal to experience in the second proof is linked to, and complemented by, another appeal in the third proof (583b-588a). In the latter appeal those with experience compare the pleasantness not of lives but rather of individual pleasures, concluding that any pleasure of the rational part of the soul is more pleasant than any pleasure of the other two parts. Despite its boldness and prima facie implausibility, this claim rests on the purity criterion and the relatively plausible thesis that only the rational pleasures are pure, all others being mixed with pain.

JOBS: 2x Assistant or Associate Professor posts at Koç University / Deadline Dec. 15th

The Department of Philosophy at Koç University invites applications for two full-time faculty positions at the assistant or associate professor level, beginning September 2023, in the following areas:

AOS: Open / AOC: metaphysics — details on how to apply here at Philjobs

AOS: Open / AOC: Kant, Post-Kantianism, Early Modern, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of AI, Philosophy of Cognitive Science — details on how to apply here at Philjobs

The deadline for applications is December 15th.

Call for papers｜Ergon: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal at Koç University

Ergon: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal at Koç University is now accepting submissions for its 2022 issue.

Submissions will be open until April 4, 2022.

For more information and guidelines about how to submit, please visit https://ergon.ku.edu.tr/submission-guidelines/.

JOBS: 2x Assistant or Associate Professor at Koç University / Deadline Dec. 15th

A reminder for those interested: The Department of Philosophy at Koç University invites applications for two full-time faculty positions at the assistant or associate professor level, beginning September 2020, in the following areas:

AOS: Ethics and/or political philosophy. AOC: Open, but we have teaching needs in aesthetics.

AOS: Metaphysics. AOC: Open, but we have teaching needs in advanced logic (up to graduate level) and philosophy of science.

The deadline is December 15th and full details about the posts and how to apply can be found here: https://philjobs.org/job/show/14110 (ethics and/or political philosophy) and https://philjobs.org/job/show/14090 (metaphysics).