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Single Idea 386

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / e. Role of pleasure ]

Full Idea

Intensity of pleasure and pain is to be found not in a good state of body and soul, but in a worthless one.

Gist of Idea

Intense pleasure and pain are not felt in a good body, but in a worthless one

Source

Plato (Philebus [c.353 BCE], 45e)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Philebus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1982], p.112


A Reaction

This just seems to be Plato's puritanism. How can you criticise someone for experience genuine intense pain? Experiencing intense pleasure is no crime, but pursuit of it might be.


The 13 ideas with the same theme [what is the point of pleasure?]:

Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato]
It is a mistake to think that the most violent pleasure or pain is therefore the truest reality [Plato]
Intense pleasure and pain are not felt in a good body, but in a worthless one [Plato]
Everything that takes place naturally is pleasant [Plato]
Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel [Aristotle]
Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality [Aristotle]
Pleasure and virtue entail one another [Epicurus]
Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not an adult [Democritus (attr)]
Nature only wants two things: freedom from pain, and pleasure [Lucretius]
We are scared of death - except when we are immersed in pleasure! [Seneca]
Animals don't value pleasure, as they cease sexual intercourse after impregnation [Plutarch]
Pleasure and pain control all human desires and duties [Bentham]
Pleasure serves to maintain our relationship with its source [Cochrane]