John Stuart Mill:
“It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low, has the greatest chance of having them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will always feel that any happiness which he can look for, as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can learn to bear its imperfections, if they are at all bearable; and they will not make him envy the being who is indeed unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he feels not at all the good which those imperfections qualify.
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.’
11 Comments
And if you put lipstick on Nancy Pelosi, will she rise above either of her stations in life?
Pelosi has two stations? Talking cadaver is one….
WW,
Perhaps I was too subtle — “the fool [and] the pig”.
Mill, by the way, is the direct ideological ancestor of Obama, Hillary, and others of their “progressive” ilk. To view him as a classical liberal is a misreading. The “pig” he had in mind was probably the conventional, tradition-respecting, bourgeois Victorian of his day. See the work of the late Professor Joseph Hamburger.
djf,
Regardless of what philosophical or ideological lines one can draw between Mill and Progressivism, I think the best way to understand Mill’s “pig” in a timeless and universal way is as the man who: having found a comfortable embedding in a social or cultural milieu, finds such comfort sufficient; who, having found a relaxing current in which to drift, probes neither bank nor bottom; and who would rather answer questions than ask them.
I think the “pig” you describe covers around 99% of all the people who have ever lived or will live. In my experience, exceedingly few people, of any level of intelligence, have any capacity for reflection of that kind.
djf,
Quite so. Not 99%, I think, but certainly a hefty majority. Hence the significance of Socrates. And others.
I don’t think such a large segment of humanity should be dismissed as “pigs.” There’s nobility in a person living according to his received traditions, even if he’s not sophisticated enough to question them. Of course, that assumes that the traditions themselves are noble, and that the person in question has a tradition to rely on.
djf,
I completely agree. In the comment-thread of another, more recent post I wrote:
Perhaps I shouldn’t have written this post at all. It was prompted only by my vexation with a friend who does possess the intelligence and sophistication to engage in this sort of reflection, and who enjoys presenting the appearance of having done so, but is so blithe and satisfied that he doesn’t actually make the necessary effort.
It was rather a self-indulgent post on my part (and Mill’s), and your criticism of it is fair. That said, I imagine Mill had in mind the same sort of person I do, and not the great many decent and useful people who simply lack the capacity for searching reflection.
That’s very well said, Malcolm. Your description of your vexing friend applies to almost all educated people I know.
I think there’s a distinction to be drawn among people smart enough to reflect on the premises of their society but who do not do so. I think such lack of reflection is not necessarily a vice in a traditional society with a sustainable way of life. In our society, however, we have no tradition to speak of anymore (as opposed to legal rules), and people like your friend unreflectively support a regime that, in my view, will not be sustainable for more than another two generations or so. People like your friend, multiplied by several million, are collectively dooming our society to turn into something different and worse.
Thanks for taking the trouble to offer this blog; it’s some consolation to know that one is not alone in distress over the direction our country has taken.
djf,
You are very welcome indeed. Thank you for reading and commenting. And know this: we are hardly alone.