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Single Idea 132
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / f. Dangers of pleasure
]
Full Idea
Socrates: I want to ask whether a lifetime spent scratching, itching and scratching, no end of scratching, is also a life of happiness.
Gist of Idea
If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness
Source
Plato (Gorgias [c.387 BCE], 494c)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Gorgias', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP World's Classics 1994], p.82
A Reaction
There are plenty of people who think 'fun' is the main aim of life, and who fit what Socrates is referring to. We don't admire such a life, but not many people can be admired.
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[how can pleasure be harmful?]:
5155
|
It is hard to fight against emotion, but harder still to fight against pleasure
[Heraclitus]
|
442
|
Pleasures are like pirates - if you are caught they drown you in a sea of pleasures
[Epicharmus]
|
1664
|
I would rather go mad than experience pleasure
[Antisthenes (I)]
|
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]
|
264
|
The conquest of pleasure is the noblest victory of all
[Plato]
|
2123
|
Excessive pleasure deranges people, making the other virtues impossible
[Plato]
|
2158
|
Pleasure-seekers desperately seek illusory satisfaction, like filling a leaky vessel
[Plato]
|
84
|
The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought
[Aristotle]
|
523
|
It is as brave to master pleasure as to overcome the enemy
[Democritus (attr)]
|
7899
|
Even divine pleasure will not satisfy the wise, as it is insatiable, and leads to pain
[Anon (Dham)]
|
20852
|
Rapture is a breakdown of virtue
[Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
|
13323
|
The whole point of pleasure-seeking is novelty, and abandoning established ways
[Seneca]
|
4859
|
Pleasure is only bad in so far as it hinders a man's capability for action
[Spinoza]
|