venturestoerecttheresultsofhisindividualexperienceintoauniversalstandard，heislikelytooverratesomepleasuresandunderrateothers。
Perhapsthemostconvincingillustrationsofthisarefurnishedbythinkersnotoftheidealistortranscendentaltype，butprofessedHedonists，suchasEpicurusandHobbes。WecannotacceptasfairexpressionsoftheordinaryexperienceofthehumanraceeitherEpicurus’sidentificationofpainlessnesswiththehighestdegreeofpleasure，orHobbes’sasseverationthatthegratificationsofcuriosity``farexceedinintensityallcarnaldelights’’。
Thusweseemtobeinthisdilemma:themassofmankind，towhosecommonopinionwearenaturallyreferredforcatholicallyauthoritativebeliefsrespectingtheconditionsofhappiness，aredeficientinthefacultyorthehabitofobservingandrecordingtheirexperience:andusually，inproportionasamanis，bynatureandpractice，abetterobserver，thephenomenathathehastoobservearemoreandmoredivergentfromtheordinarytype。
Onthewhole，itmust，Ithink，beadmittedthattheHedonisticmethodcannotbefreedfrominexactnessanduncertaintybyappealingtothejudgmentsofcommonsenserespectingthesourcesofhappiness。AtthesametimeIwouldnotexaggeratethedifficultyofcombiningtheseintoatolerablycoherentbodyofprobabledoctrine，notuselessforpracticalguidance。Forfirst，itmustbeobserved，thatitisonlyoccasionallyandtoalimitedextentthatthesecommonlycommendedsourcesofhappinesscomeintocompetitionwithoneanotherandarepresentedasalternatives。Forexample，thepursuitofwealthoftenleadsalsotopowerbesidesthepowerthatliesinwealthandtoreputation:andagain，theseobjectsofdesirecanusuallybebestattained——asfarasitisinourpowertoattainthematall——byemploymentwhichinitselfgivesthepleasurethatnormallyattendsenergeticexerciseofone’sbestfaculties:andthiscongenialemploymentisnotincompatiblewithadequateexerciseoftheaffections，socialanddomestic；norwithcultivatedamusementwhichmustalwaysbecarefullylimitedinamountifitistobereallyamusing。Andnoonedoubtsthattocarryeitheremploymentoramusementtoadegreethatinjureshealthinvolvesgenerallyasacrificeofhappiness，nolessthanover-indulgenceinsensualgratifications。
Andasforthephilosophicalorquasi-philosophicalparadoxesastotheillusorinessofsensualenjoyments，wealth，power，fame，etc。，wemayexplainthewidespreadacceptancewhichthesefindbyadmittingacertaingeneraltendencytoexaggerationinthecommonestimatesofsuchobjectsofdesire，whichfromtimetotimecausesareactionandanequallyexcessivetemporarydepreciationofthem。Aswesawchap。iii。