The Pleasure Principle

ultimately define who they are. Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalytic theorist who is the founder of psychology, has created theories that have greatly influenced the world. Among his theories is his psychoanalytic personality theory which focuses on the id, ego and superego, all of which contribute towards the understanding of human behaviour. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield goes on a three day journey to New York where he has the opportunity to live without rules and principles. Throughout Holden Caulfield’s journey, several aspects…

the Freud Museum in London. This installation came to known as "Beyond the Pleasure Principle". The installation was quite a contradiction to the interior environment of the museum itself. Yet, the significance of the location is not lost upon the audience once they disintegrate the different layers of meaning that comes forward with the installation. Lucas installed "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" in Freud's bedroom. The sculptural installation consists of a red mattress that has been…

Naturalism unlike realism adopts more a philosophical position and holds man responsible for his actions and negates divine interventions. Naturalism considers human beings to be determined by their heredity and environment. The individual is at the mercy of determining social and economic forces. Each human being is determined by heredity and environment and "subject to the social and economic forces in the family, the class, and the milieu into which that person is born" (Abrams 153).…

In his essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” Freud hypothesised that people are driven by two different kinds of desire. A life drive which involves survival,hunger,thirst and se, acts that help sustain or create life. The death drive is the polar opposite of the life drive, it regards behavior that is destructive to oneself and to others. According to Freud these two drives are on a spectrum and every person has a death drive or a life drive regardless of how they act. Their actions determine…

In certain extracts of John Stuart Mill’s “Utilitarianism,” he argues, “that the only ends of human life are pleasure and the avoidance of pain, so that anything else is bound ultimately to turn in some way on these ends” (Mill 127). Essentially this means that Mill believes that pleasure and the avoidance of pain are the guiding source when it comes to making decisions regarding moral dilemmas. This claim also involves stating that utility is the ultimate source for decision making. Utility is…

Utilitarianism, as the name suggests, is based upon the principle of utility, more commonly known as the greatest happiness principle. John Stuart Mill, one of the founding active developers of the ethical theory, called this “the creed that considers a particular theory of life”(1). The theory, at first glance, seems to be very basic in it’s foundation. Pleasure vs. pain, good vs. evil and advantageous vs. disadvantageous. Through utilitarianism, one must equate these things with benefit or…

Jeremy Bentham, author of the “Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” (1789), and one of the founding fathers of Utilitarianism aimed to question moral issues of good and evil by simplifying any quandary to one question, what solutions preserves the most happiness and avoids the most pain to the greater number of people? Problem Bentham Addresses Bentham defines good as what is beneficial, and he defines bad as what is detrimental. Pleasure and happiness are synonymous to…

Moral Dilemmas of the Trolley Case Introduction The Principle of Utility The Principle of Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, actions that are the right actions when the result of the action brings about happiness. If the action results in the opposite of happiness, the action is not in accordance with the Principle of Utility. As John Stuart Mill explains it in the book Utilitarianism, “By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the…

of a whole so they can act solely to benefit the larger unit. Essentially, Bentham's model determines whether an action is right or wrong based on the net amount of pleasure or pain it causes the involved parties. Furthermore, he specifies the various qualities that determine the value of the subsequent pleasure or pain, breaking them into seven categories that range from intensity to purity. However, with this model, Bentham makes some assumptions about the model's implementation, which causes…

utilitarianism is based on “greatest happiness principle” that says “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Chapter 5). Mill defines happiness as pleasure and absence of pain. According to Mill, morality is based on the quality and quantity of pleasure produced by an action. It is not what you do, but how much of pleasure is produced by your action is what…