PHIL 101: Philosophy Assignment - Thought Experiments and Mill

This philosophy assignment explores two key philosophical concepts. The first part defines and provides examples of thought experiments, referencing figures like Galileo, Einstein, and Peter Singer, and then asks for a personal application of a thought experiment. The second part delves into John Stuart Mill's argument on qualitative differences between pleasures, distinguishing between high and low pleasures, and asks the student to relate this distinction to their personal experiences. The student's response provides a clear explanation of Mill's theory and uses personal experiences with music and ice cream to illustrate the difference between high and low pleasures, concluding that their experiences support Mill's ideas.

Running head: PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. What is a thought experiment? Give or design an example of a thought experiment you
can use or have used in your own life. Be sure to follow your experiment through to "the
end."
Answer: Thought Experiments are tests where one imagines the real-life outcome of a
hypothesis in a situation where physical evidence may not be available. They are used in
various fields, like, economics, mathematic, philosophy, history and fields of science such as
physics. These are psychological experiments of thought. The concept of thought
experiments is generally associated with the renowned physicist named Ernst mach and his
notion of ‘Gedankenexperiment’ (Gendler, 2014).
Thought experiments have played a significant role in the history of physics. Two great
figures who have delved in thought experiments are Galileo and Einstein. The most
celebrated thoughts experiments are of Galileo, now known as Galilean Relativity. Einstein
followed the same path when he came up with the general theory of relativity and principle
of equivalence (Brown, 2013).
An experiment that was written by the famous Utilitarian thinker Peter Singer in 2009,
asks the question if we were to be walking down a street and see a drowning child, we would
not think twice to answer that we would save the child even if it means destroying a good
pair of leather shoes. However, after we answer this, the next question that rises is the
difference between saving the child in front of us and another across the world. According to
Singer, there is no difference in morals when it comes to saving both children. The cost of
the shoes is analogous to the cost of donation, and if one is irrelevant, the other should be
too. There are counter arguments that rely on the idea that the former is a state of emergency

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where the child is drowning rather the latter one who is starving on the other side of the
planet. They require different solutions and impose different obligations (Tillman, 2013).
2. Think about Mill's argument of the qualitative differences between pleasures and describe how
these relate to your own life experiences.
Answer: John Stuart Mill’s treaties ‘Utilitarianism’ follows the general concepts included in
utilitarianism. One of the main points in the treaties is the distinction between high and low
pleasures. This distinction says that pleasure derived from intellectual stimulation like reading a
book cannot be categorised with the pleasure derived through sensory stimulation like eating
good food. By creating the difference between high and low pleasures, Mill states that
intellectual pleasure is of higher quality and not of quantity. He also states that these pleasures
are not reducible to each other. This means that no matter how much of low pleasure stimulants
one has, it would not achieve the quality of high pleasure stimulants (McCloskey, 2015).
This relates to me personally, when it comes to listening to music. When it comes to
situations where I might be feeling low or sad, eating ice-cream gives me pleasure but this does
not last long. The feeling quickly dissipates and I crave more o this pleasure. However, when I
listen to music, no matter for how long, it gives me a sense of inner peace. It calms me down
intellectually and helps me think clearer. The feeling of sadness does not reoccur immediately.
This difference is very noticeable for me. Therefore, I believe that my personal experiences do
corroborate with the theory that Mill proposed.

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References
Brown, J. R. (2013). Thought experiments. In The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of
Science (pp. 356-367). Routledge.
Gendler, T. S. (2014). Thought experiment: On the powers and limits of imaginary cases.
Routledge.
McCloskey, H. J. (2015). John Stuart Mill: a critical study. Springer.
Tillman, R. (2013). Ethical embodiment and moral reasoning: A challenge to Peter Singer.
Hypatia, 28(1), 18-31.