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Single Idea 99
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / c. Value of pleasure
]
Full Idea
Happiness is not amusement; it would be paradoxical if we toiled and suffered all our lives just for that.
Gist of Idea
If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1176b28)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.327
A Reaction
So he promotes contemplation above pleasure as the end of life, on the grounds that it motivates a lifetime of effort? Maybe happiness is quite easy for a lot of people.
The
27 ideas
with the same theme
[how important is pleasure in life?]:
8142
|
The wise prefer good to pleasure; the foolish are drawn to pleasure by desire
[Anon (Upan)]
|
240
|
It would be strange if the gods rewarded those who experienced the most pleasure in life
[Plato]
|
157
|
Most pleasure is release from pain, and is therefore not worthwhile
[Plato]
|
371
|
Reason, memory, truth and wisdom are far better than pleasure, for those who can attain them
[Plato]
|
373
|
Pleasure is certainly very pleasant, but it doesn't follow that all pleasures are good
[Plato]
|
376
|
Would you prefer a life of pleasure without reason, or one of reason without pleasure?
[Plato]
|
379
|
The good must be sufficient and perfect, and neither intellect nor pleasure are that
[Plato]
|
382
|
It is unlikely that the gods feel either pleasure or pain
[Plato]
|
197
|
Some pleasures are not good, and some pains are not evil
[Plato]
|
200
|
People tend only to disapprove of pleasure if it leads to pain, or prevents future pleasure
[Plato]
|
2134
|
Philosophers are concerned with totally non-physical pleasures
[Plato]
|
5259
|
If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad?
[Aristotle]
|
96
|
Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures
[Aristotle]
|
97
|
There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure
[Aristotle]
|
98
|
It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose
[Aristotle]
|
99
|
If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort
[Aristotle]
|
14056
|
We only need pleasure when we have the pain of desire
[Epicurus]
|
508
|
Only accept beneficial pleasures
[Democritus (attr)]
|
20845
|
There are shameful pleasures, and nothing shameful is good, so pleasure is not a good
[Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
|
20840
|
Stoics say pleasure is at most a byproduct of finding what is suitable for us
[Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
|
3071
|
Justice has no virtue opposed to it, but pleasure has temperance opposed to it
[Aurelius]
|
22269
|
We must fight fiercely to hang on to the few pleasures which survive into old age
[Montaigne]
|
8104
|
What will you think of pleasures when you no longer enjoy them?
[Joubert]
|
21466
|
Pleasure is weaker, and pain stronger, than we expect
[Schopenhauer]
|
5905
|
We clearly value good character or understanding, as well as pleasure
[Ross]
|
5929
|
No one thinks it doesn't matter whether pleasure is virtuously or viciously acquired
[Ross]
|
24165
|
Pleasure has an intrinsic (independent) value, but that is not a final (for its own sake) value
[Cochrane]
|