Aristotle on pleasure Michael Lacewing enquiriesalevelphilosophy co uk

  • Slides: 8
Download presentation
Aristotle on pleasure Michael Lacewing enquiries@alevelphilosophy. co. uk

Aristotle on pleasure Michael Lacewing enquiries@alevelphilosophy. co. uk

Is pleasure good? • Aristotle: pleasure is good, and eudaimonia involves pleasure • Obj:

Is pleasure good? • Aristotle: pleasure is good, and eudaimonia involves pleasure • Obj: The temperate person avoids pleasure. – Not true. The temperate person avoids is an excess of certain bodily pleasures. • Obj: The practically wise person doesn’t seek pleasure, but only avoids pain. – Not true. The practically wise person seeks pleasure in accordance with reason. – As pain is bad and to be avoided, the contrary of pain, pleasure, is good and to be pursued.

Is pleasure good? • Obj: Pleasure interferes with thought. – Not true. The pleasures

Is pleasure good? • Obj: Pleasure interferes with thought. – Not true. The pleasures of thinking assist it. Of all pleasurable activities, the pleasures of other activities interferes. • Obj: Not all pleasures are good, e. g. bodily pleasures or taking pleasure in something disgraceful. – Only an excess of bodily pleasures is bad. – However, disgraceful pleasures are not good.

Disgraceful pleasures • Can we say that pleasure is good, yet disgraceful pleasures are

Disgraceful pleasures • Can we say that pleasure is good, yet disgraceful pleasures are bad? – All real pleasures are good. Disgraceful pleasures are not really pleasures (only pleasant to bad people). – The kind of pleasure involved is good, but the instance is bad becaused by something disgraceful. – Pleasures are of different kinds, and only some pleasures are good.

Pleasure is good • Every creature aims at pleasure. This is a good indication

Pleasure is good • Every creature aims at pleasure. This is a good indication that it is, for each thing, the good. – It is not the only good, as we aim at other things as well. • Everything avoids pain, so its contrary, pleasure, is good. • We choose pleasure for its own sake, not for some further purpose. • Adding pleasure on to any good makes it more desirable.

What is pleasure? • Pleasure is the unimpeded activity of our faculties – Not

What is pleasure? • Pleasure is the unimpeded activity of our faculties – Not simply a kind of indefinable sensation – Think of ‘being in the zone’ • Pleasure in using a sense is greater when that sense is at its best and used in relation to its best object – E. g. looking at something beautiful – Pleasure in exercising a faculty that is not impeded

What is pleasure? • Pleasure is not something simply caused by, and separate from,

What is pleasure? • Pleasure is not something simply caused by, and separate from, such unimpeded activity. – It ‘completes’ the activity, i. e. it is a part of it – The pleasure is in the activity itself and intensifies and supports it

Good and bad pleasures • Each kind of activity has a corresponding kind of

Good and bad pleasures • Each kind of activity has a corresponding kind of pleasure – A pleasure is good when the activity that produces it is good and bad when the activity is bad. • The pleasures most suited to human beings are those related to our characteristic activity – The virtuous person does this best, and so what is truly pleasant is what is pleasant to the virtuous person