[A] purely hedonistic utilitarian, like Bentham, might agree with Mill in preferring the experiences of discontented philosophers to those of contented fools. His preference for the philosopher’s state of mind, however, would not be an intrinsic one. He would say that the discontented philosopher is a useful agent in society and that the existence of Socrates is responsible for an improvement in the lot of humanity generally.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[A] purely hedonistic utilitarian, like Bentham, might agree with Mill in preferring the experiences of discontented philosophers to those of contented fools. His preference for the philosopher’s state of mind, however, would not be an intrinsic one. He would say that the discontented philosopher is a useful agent in society and that the existence of Socrates is responsible for an improvement in the lot of humanity generally." in the context of "J. J. C. Smart, An outline of a system of utilitarian ethics, in Smart, J. J. C. & Williams, B. Utilitarianism For and Against, Chapter 3. Hedonistic and non-hedonistic utilitarianism" to mean that wisdom is timeless.