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Single Idea 5934
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure
]
Full Idea
Most of Bentham's 'dimensions' of pleasure refer to further pleasures, or are irrelevant to the pleasure; we are left with intensity and duration as the characteristics on which depend the value of a pleasure qua pleasure, and there is nothing to add.
Clarification
'Qua' means 'purely as'
Gist of Idea
Of Bentham's 'dimensions' of pleasure, only intensity and duration matter
Source
comment on Jeremy Bentham (Intro to Principles of Morals and Legislation [1789]) by W. David Ross - The Right and the Good §VI
Book Ref
Ross,W.David: 'The Right and the Good' [OUP 1930], p.144
A Reaction
I agree. When Bentham produces his list he seems to be trying to add a bogus enrichment to what is really a rather crude and basic notion of the aim of life. Your simple hedonist appears to only desire high intensity and long duration.
The
16 ideas
with the same theme
[what types of pleasure are there?]:
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387
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A small pure pleasure is much finer than a large one contaminated with pain
[Plato]
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2157
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Nice smells are intensive, have no preceding pain, and no bad after-effect
[Plato]
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5230
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There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body
[Aristotle]
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383
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God feels one simple pleasure forever
[Aristotle]
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5270
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Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones
[Aristotle]
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1839
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Pains of the soul are worse than pains of the body, because it feels the past and future
[Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
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1842
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Pleasures only differ in their duration and the part of the body affected
[Epicurus]
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3557
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The end for Epicurus is static pleasure
[Epicurus, by Annas]
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505
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Good and true are the same for everyone, but pleasures differ
[Democritus (attr)]
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521
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We should only choose pleasures which are concerned with the beautiful
[Democritus (attr)]
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1838
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Cyrenaic pleasure is a motion, but Epicurean pleasure is a condition
[Diog. Laertius]
|
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5271
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Prejudice apart, push-pin has equal value with music and poetry
[Bentham]
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5934
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Of Bentham's 'dimensions' of pleasure, only intensity and duration matter
[Ross on Bentham]
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8096
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He gives his body up to pleasure, but not his soul
[Joubert]
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9196
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The pleasure of existing is the only genuine pleasure
[Hadot]
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7498
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Greeks and early Christians were much more concerned about food than about sex
[Foucault]
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