Desire and the Desirable

The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible, is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible, is that people hear it~ and so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it,
- John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

If people desire something, does that mean it's desirable? Mill believed that ethics should be founded upon the principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. So his ethics is not totally selfish business. And, too, though happiness is a matter of pleasure, it is not a matter of simple sensuous pleasure. It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied, after all, Mill said. And quality of pleasure is more important than quantity of pleasure. But why should we desire pleasure-even high-minded pleasure? Why is an act right or good just because it produces a greater balance of pleasure over pain? Why should we pursue pleasure?

Mill argues as follows-- A sound is audible because it is heard; an object is visible because it is seen; and so a thing is desirable because it is desired. So pleasure is desirable because it is desired! Every person desires pleasure, so pleasure is desirable. And if it's desirable, we ought to desire it.

The rest of Mill's utilitarianism depends upon this argument. Is it valid? If not, why should we desire the greatest happiness for the greatest number? Or perhaps we should desire something else ...?

Bibliography

Bentham, Jeremy and John Stuart Mills The Utilitarians, Garden City, New York, Anchor Books, 1973.

Schneewind, J.B.2 "John Stuart Mill," Encyclopedia. of Philosophy, Vol. 3, pp. 314-323.

Smart, J.J.C.: "Utilitarianism," Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8, pp. 206-212.