When I asked my family what they thought the word pleasure meant, I received several answers all of which connected pleasure to happiness or joy, but that’s not what pleasure truly is; not to Aristotle at least. The definition to pleasure in the Nicomachean Ethics is “Pleasure together with pain, a crucial determinant of human action and hence crucial to Aristotle’s account of moral virtue and vice. The noun supplies the root of the English term hedonism, that is, the philosophic doctrine according to which the good all human beings of necessity seek is some kind of pleasure.” (Bartlett and Collins 2011) This statement is vague on what pleasure actually is but allows us to see what Aristotle thinks it does. So, is pleasure good or bad? Does
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The Nicomachean Ethics gives basically the same definition for pain as pleasure, but if you have ever tasted ice cream or accidently burned your hand in the oven I believe you know the difference. So then, you understand pleasure is something you may long for and pain may be something you try to avoid; but they both direct your actions. When you were a child you most likely did not want to clean your room, but your Mom may have promised ice cream if you cleaned, so you cleaned in order to gain pleasure. The exact opposite your Father may have promised you a swat if you did not clean, so you cleaned in order to escape pain. In these examples it’s easy to see pleasure and pain directing our actions, but we still have not answered my question. Is pleasure good or …show more content…
I see his point as well, if you look at someone who only tries to satisfy their bodily desires (sex, food and alcohol), you might say they are childish, animalistic, or even without reason. To be without reason you would drop a rank in the levels of the soul and become a beast, according to Aristotle. Though he would most likely not say this, there is no way to strip one of their soul and give them a new, humans are born with reason, some may just choose not to use it. I would guess this far you would conclude that pleasure is not good, so is pain good? Well this is quite simply answered; Aristotle makes the point that pain can keep us from doing the right things. Imagine this, a person sees another person about to walk a little too close to a bee hive, but instead of going and helping them, they keep their distance because of the possibility of being stung themselves. If they would have helped I would say that would have been an act of courage, which is a virtue. so therefore, I would say this is not a courageous person because pain directed their actions. Pain is also not good for the virtuous
The Nicomachean Ethics gives basically the same definition for pain as pleasure, but if you have ever tasted ice cream or accidently burned your hand in the oven I believe you know the difference. So then, you understand pleasure is something you may long for and pain may be something you try to avoid; but they both direct your actions. When you were a child you most likely did not want to clean your room, but your Mom may have promised ice cream if you cleaned, so you cleaned in order to gain pleasure. The exact opposite your Father may have promised you a swat if you did not clean, so you cleaned in order to escape pain. In these examples it’s easy to see pleasure and pain directing our actions, but we still have not answered my question. Is pleasure good or …show more content…
I see his point as well, if you look at someone who only tries to satisfy their bodily desires (sex, food and alcohol), you might say they are childish, animalistic, or even without reason. To be without reason you would drop a rank in the levels of the soul and become a beast, according to Aristotle. Though he would most likely not say this, there is no way to strip one of their soul and give them a new, humans are born with reason, some may just choose not to use it. I would guess this far you would conclude that pleasure is not good, so is pain good? Well this is quite simply answered; Aristotle makes the point that pain can keep us from doing the right things. Imagine this, a person sees another person about to walk a little too close to a bee hive, but instead of going and helping them, they keep their distance because of the possibility of being stung themselves. If they would have helped I would say that would have been an act of courage, which is a virtue. so therefore, I would say this is not a courageous person because pain directed their actions. Pain is also not good for the virtuous