more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 130

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 2. Hedonism ]

Full Idea

Callicles: If a person has the means to live a life of sensual, self-indulgent freedom, there's no better or happier state of existence.

Clarification

'Happiness' is the Greek word 'eudaimonia', also sometimes translated as 'flourishing'

Gist of Idea

Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom?

Source

Plato (Gorgias [c.387 BCE], 492c)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Gorgias', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP World's Classics 1994], p.79

The 26 ideas from 'Gorgias'

1654 In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth [Vlastos on Plato]
4320 The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third [Plato]
114 Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato]
4321 We should test one another, by asking and answering questions [Plato]
116 Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato]
118 I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal [Plato]
119 A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato]
120 Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences? [Plato]
122 Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato]
123 Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato]
124 Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato]
125 Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world? [Plato]
128 Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato]
129 Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato]
130 Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom? [Plato]
131 If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato]
4319 In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better [Plato]
132 If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato]
4322 In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate [Plato]
134 Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato]
135 All activity aims at the good [Plato]
136 Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round [Plato]
137 As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato]
139 A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato]
140 Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato]
141 A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state [Plato]