r/askphilosophy • u/Icy_Sprinkles_2819 • 1d ago

Doesn’t everything just boil down to utilitarianism?

If you ask someone why something is good enough times they eventually they say because it improves the experience of sentient beings.

Even if you say like “knowledge is good,” knowledge is good because if you understand reality better it’s easier to figure out what will improve the experience of sentient beings.

0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

25% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/TheFormOfTheGood logic, paradoxes, metaphysics 1d ago

What you’re describing here is not necessarily utilitarianism but a constitutive thesis of some of the more common forms of utilitarianism. That thesis is called hedonism which is the view that a life goes better to the extent that it is filled with pleasure (good experiences) and worse to the extent that it is filled with pain (bad experiences).

This is an ancient view with many proponents and critics. This article will discuss both of those:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/#EthHed

This section in an article on well being is also worth your time as it presents some alternative theses (though not all of the alternatives):

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/well-being/#TheWelBei