Utilitarianism

The line that struck me most from the first two chapters of Mill’s Utilitarianism was, “better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” It seems like a very sad proclamation, but indeed the best that anyone can hope for. The drunken fool has to imbibe himself, just to forget about all the pain and trouble in his life. In this sense he is momentarily “satisfied,” but it’s no way to live a life and there will certainly be nothing fruitful for him to gain. Perhaps the greatest example of this is Daniel Keyes’ short story Flowers for Algernon. It provides a succinct, heartbreaking and powerful argument for the pursuit of noble pleasures over base ones. In the story Charlie has an extremely low IQ of 68, but is overall very content with his life as a janitor, and the friends with whom he spends time. After an experimental surgery his IQ is tripled and continues to rapidly increase. He can no longer relate to anyone, realizes his friends are not good friends and ultimately loses his job. As his health and intelligence then begin to decline he is deeply saddened. It is the case for most humans that once our eyes have been opened to the truth, it is difficult for us to close them again, and we do ourselves a disservice to turn our back on what we know to be true. It is disheartening, to think of leading a life aware of the truth and be ultimately disappointed is all we can ever hope to attain in life. Unfortunately it really is the best any of us can hope for. Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.