The Best Things in Life is a short philosophical treatise on making the right choices for the best possible life. I was a bit surprised to find that Hurka means "best" in the ethical sense, for a life with the highest level of virtue rather than the most fulfilling.
The consideration of the possible candidates for highest good – pleasure, knowledge, achievement, moral virtue, love – is clear and practical but fairly familiar to anyone who has thought about the issues before. Hurka's two most interesting arguments are about how pleasure and pain are not equal in value (an "equivalent" amount of pain is worse) and how knowledge and achievement are complementary aspects of a proper connection between ourselves and the world (knowledge is our mind conforming to the world; achievement is the world responding to our will).
The consideration of the possible candidates for highest good – pleasure, knowledge, achievement, moral virtue, love – is clear and practical but fairly familiar to anyone who has thought about the issues before. Hurka's two most interesting arguments are about how pleasure and pain are not equal in value (an "equivalent" amount of pain is worse) and how knowledge and achievement are complementary aspects of a proper connection between ourselves and the world (knowledge is our mind conforming to the world; achievement is the world responding to our will).
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