enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk Michael Lacewing Is pleasure good Aristotle pleasure is good and eudaimonia involves pleasure Obj The temperate person avoids pleasure Not true ID: 784980
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Slide1
Aristotle on pleasure
Michael Lacewingenquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk
© Michael Lacewing
Slide2Is pleasure good?
Aristotle: pleasure is good, and
eudaimonia
involves pleasureObj: 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.
© Michael Lacewing
Slide3Is 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.© Michael Lacewing
Slide4Disgraceful pleasures
Can we say that pleasure is good, yet disgraceful pleasures are bad?All real pleasure 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 because caused by something disgraceful.Pleasures are of different kinds, and only some pleasures are good.© Michael Lacewing
Slide5Pleasure 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.© Michael Lacewing
Slide6What is pleasure?
Pleasure is the unimpeded activity of our facultiesNot simply a kind of indefinable sensationThink of ‘being in the zone’
Pleasure in using a sense is
created when that sense is at its best and used in relation to its best objectE.g. looking at something beautifulPleasure in exercising a faculty that is not impeded© Michael Lacewing
Slide7What 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 itThe pleasure is in the activity itself and intensifies and supports it© Michael Lacewing
Slide8Good and bad pleasures
Each kind of activity has a corresponding kind of pleasureA 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© Michael Lacewing