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Single Idea 14057
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / f. Good as pleasure
]
Full Idea
Every pleasure is a good thing, since it has a nature congenial to us, but not every one is to be chosen, just as every pain is a bad thing, but not every one is such as to be always avoided.
Gist of Idea
All pleasures are good, but it is not always right to choose them
Source
Epicurus (Letter to Menoeceus [c.291 BCE], 129)
Book Ref
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.30
A Reaction
This kind of sensible remark would be wholly endorsed by Bentham and Mill. This fits in with the excellent distinction between what is right and what is good.
The
16 ideas
with the same theme
[pleasure is the main good in life]:
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415
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If happiness is bodily pleasure, then oxen are happy when they have vetch to eat
[Heraclitus]
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1537
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Happiness is identifying and separating the pleasures
[Democritus, by Stobaeus]
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4322
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In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate
[Plato]
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136
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Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round
[Plato]
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2070
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Even people who think pleasure is the good admit that there are bad pleasures
[Plato]
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94
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Pleasure is better with the addition of intelligence, so pleasure is not the good
[Plato, by Aristotle]
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23
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The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure
[Aristotle]
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5269
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Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable
[Aristotle]
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1833
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Pleasure is the first good in life
[Epicurus]
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14057
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All pleasures are good, but it is not always right to choose them
[Epicurus]
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14058
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Pleasure is the goal, but as lack of pain and calm mind, not as depraved or greedy pleasure
[Epicurus]
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1840
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Pleasure is the chief good because it is the most natural, especially for animals
[Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
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1777
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Pleasure is not the good, because there are disgraceful pleasures
[Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
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5973
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Justice can be preserved if pleasure is a good, but not if it is the goal
[Chrysippus, by Plutarch]
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21870
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Music is good for a melancholic, bad for a mourner, and indifferent to the deaf
[Spinoza]
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3256
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Pain doesn't have a further property of badness; it gives a reason for its avoidance
[Nagel]
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