Single Idea 1537

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / f. Good as pleasure]

Full Idea

Democritus thinks that happiness consists in the determination and separation of pleasures, and that this is what is both finest and most beneficial for people.

Gist of Idea

Happiness is identifying and separating the pleasures

Source

report of Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], A167) by John Stobaeus - Anthology 2.07.3

Book Reference

'The First Philosophers', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 2000], p.189


A Reaction

A great deal of the strategy and ethics of living consists (if you are lucky) of discriminating among possible pleasures. Philosophers should produce criteria.