Single Idea 5230

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure]

Full Idea

We must distinguish pleasures of the soul from pleasures of the body; examples of the former are love of civic distinction and love of learning.

Gist of Idea

There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1117b28)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.136


A Reaction

An example of where enthusiasm for analysis leads to oversimplification, and of how dualism about mind can colour the rest of one's views. There is a physical pleasure in learning something, and some physical pleasures are almost spiritual.