VCE Philosophy (Year 12) · Unit 3 — The Good Life · 13m read

What Makes a Life Go Well? — Hedonism, Desire Satisfaction and Objective List Theories

Unit 3 asks what a good life is and how happiness fits in. These three theories of wellbeing give you a map of the debate that you can apply to your set texts.

Learning objective: Explain and evaluate the three main theories of wellbeing and apply them to questions about happiness and the good life.

By the end of this lesson you can:

• I can explain hedonism, desire-satisfaction and objective list theories.
• I can use the experience machine to test hedonism.
• I can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.

Three maps of the good life. One map marks only pleasure, one marks whatever you want, and one marks objective landmarks like friendship and knowledge. Which map leads somewhere worth going?

Three theories

HEDONISM — a life goes well to the extent it contains pleasure and lacks pain. Simple and intuitive; pleasure clearly matters.

DESIRE-SATISFACTION (preference) THEORY — a life goes well to the extent your desires (or informed desires) are satisfied. Respects individuals’ own values.
• Problem: some desires are trivial, uninformed or harmful; and you can benefit from things you never desired.

OBJECTIVE LIST THEORY — some things are good for us whether or not we want or enjoy them: e.g. knowledge, friendship, achievement, health, autonomy.
• Problem: who decides the list? It may seem paternalistic.

THE EXPERIENCE MACHINE (Robert Nozick, 1974): imagine a machine that gives you any pleasurable experiences you want, while you float in a tank. Would you plug in for life? Many say no — suggesting we value actually doing things, being a certain kind of person, and contact with reality, not just pleasant experiences. This is a key objection to hedonism.

Worked example (Medium)

Use the experience machine to argue against hedonism, then give a hedonist reply.

1. Argument. If pleasure were all that mattered, plugging in would be best. Most of us would refuse, so something other than pleasure matters.
2. Hedonist reply. Our refusal may reflect fear, distrust of the machine or a status quo bias rather than a real value beyond pleasure.

Answer: The thought experiment suggests we value reality and genuine achievement, but hedonists can argue our intuitions are unreliable biases.

Common mistakes

• Equating hedonism with selfish indulgence Philosophical hedonism is about what makes a life go well, and can include refined or shared pleasures. Fix: Define it precisely as a theory of wellbeing.
• Treating the experience machine as a proof Thought experiments rely on intuitions that can be challenged. Fix: Present replies and weigh them.

Practice questions

1. The view that knowledge and friendship are good for you even if you do not want them is:

   1. Hedonism
   2. Desire-satisfaction theory
   3. Objective list theory
   4. Scepticism

   (1 marks)

2. Evaluate desire-satisfaction theory using an example.

   (4 marks)

Summary

• Hedonism: pleasure and absence of pain.
• Desire satisfaction: getting what you (would informedly) want.
• Objective list: goods such as knowledge, friendship, achievement.
• The experience machine challenges hedonism.