  The passage is ambiguous, it is not clear what role the expert judges play in the theory. On the pluralist interpretation of this passage we must take Mill as intending the role of the expert judges as a purely heuristic device: thinking about what such people would prefer is a way of discovering which pleasures are higher and which are lower, but the respective values of the pleasure is independent of the judges’ judgment. On a monist interpretation we must understand Mill as a preference utilitarian: the preferences of the judges determine value.  On this interpretation there is one property of value (being preferred by expert judges) and many bearers of value (whatever the  judges  prefer).[5] 