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Full Idea
When harmony is being restored, and the natural state of harmony is approached, then pleasure arises.
Gist of Idea
We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony
Source
Plato (Philebus [c.353 BCE], 31d)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Philebus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1982], p.86
A Reaction
The supreme value of harmony was important to Plato, but most of us are less convinced, I suspect. The way to achieve harmony is to avoid anything stressful.
| 381 | We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony [Plato] |
| 2156 | There are three types of pleasure, for reason, for spirit and for appetite [Plato] |
| 5256 | Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity [Aristotle] |
| 5258 | While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished [Aristotle] |
| 520 | The great pleasures come from the contemplation of noble works [Democritus (attr)] |
| 522 | Moderation brings more pleasures, and so increases pleasure [Democritus (attr)] |
| 6236 | People more obviously enjoy social pleasures than they do eating and drinking [Shaftesbury] |
| 3547 | Epicureans achieve pleasure through character development [Annas] |
| 4907 | The 'locus coeruleus' is one of several candidates for the brain's 'pleasure centre' [Carter,R] |