ABSTRACT
John Stuart Mill claims in Utilitarianism that there are different kinds of pleasant feelings, of different qualities, which can be accommodated consistently by classical hedonistic utilitarianism. Mill holds that the lowest kind of pleasures, of least quality, are the inchoate physical sensations of pleasure registered by human body, that is, by their "animal nature" when assumed to be "disjoined" from their higher mental capacities. The sensations of pleasure are a common element in the different kinds of pleasant feelings in the Millian hierarchy. Sensations of pleasure are among the ingredients of pleasant thoughts and emotions, although the sensations fuse with the other ingredients to form the more complex mental states. Considered in isolation, the simple feelings of pleasure that are properties of these more complex states of consciousness are higher in quality than mere physical sensations. Although the different kinds may not have their own distinctive names, the connotation of the generic name "pleasant feeling" encompasses them all.
