Ability to judge higher from lower pleasures depends upon experience. Those who have experienced only lower pleasures cannot distinguish higher from lower pleasures. Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure. Higher pleasures make up in quality what they lack in quantity. Happiness for human beings is different from happiness for pigs.
Humans can lose their capacity for enjoying higher pleasures.
The duty to regard the general well-being does not apply to all situations of life. Yet, in this case, nothing must be done which would conflict with the interests of society at large. The Happiness Principle is the first principle of ethics. Like all first principles, it cannot be proved. The desire for virtue is intimately connected with a desire for happiness.