Are Humans Just Pleasure Seekers?

In this lecture, Lee Braver introduces John Stuart Mill as the course's first true ethicist, distinguishing him from Socrates, who focused on what an ethical theory needs rather than offering one. Mill's utilitarianism attempts to answer Socrates' challenge by grounding morality in observable human nature rather than abstract principles. Braver walks through Mill's Theory of Life, which proposes happiness as the ultimate goal of every actiion humans take. This makes happiness the sole intrinsic good and the foundation of Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle. The lecture then tests whether this principle meets Socrates' three criteria for a genuine ethical theory. Braver also examines Mill's thinking on the difference between happiness and pleasure, the difference between higher and lower forms of happiness, and the difference between happiness and contentment.