{"id":183,"date":"2021-03-25T11:57:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T11:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/11-we-must-now-discuss-pleasure-opinions-about-it\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T13:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T13:27:44","slug":"11-different-views-on-pleasure","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/11-different-views-on-pleasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 11: Different views on pleasure"},"content":{"raw":"The study of pleasure and pain belongs to the political philosopher, [1152b1]<\/sub> since he is the architect of the goal we look to when we call one thing bad and another thing good without qualification.\r\n\r\nFurther, it is one of our necessary tasks to consider pleasure and pain. For not only did we lay it down that moral virtue and vice are concerned with pains and [5]<\/sub> pleasures, but most people say that happiness involves pleasure. This is why a makarious<\/em> (\"blessedly happy person\") is called by a name derived from a word chairein <\/em>(\"to enjoy\").\r\n\r\nNow (1) some people think that no pleasure is a good, either in itself or incidentally, since the good and pleasure are not the same. (2) Others think that some pleasures are good but that most are [10]<\/sub> bad. (3) Again there is a third view, that even if all pleasures are good, yet the best thing in the world cannot be pleasure.\r\n\r\n(1) The reasons given for the view that pleasure is not a good at all are (a) that every pleasure is a perceptible process to a natural state, and that no process is of the same kind as its goal; for instance, no process of building of the same kind as a house. (b) A temperate person avoids pleasures. (c) A prudent person [15]<\/sub> pursues what is free from pain, not what is pleasant. (d) The pleasures are a hindrance to thought, and the more so the more one delights in them; for example, in sexual pleasure, since no one could actively understand anything while absorbed in this. (e) There is no skill of pleasure; but every good is the product of some skill. (f) Children and the brutes pursue pleasures.\r\n\r\n(2) The reasons for the view that not all pleasures are good [20]<\/sub> are that (a) there are pleasures that are actually shameful and objects of reproach, and (b) there are harmful pleasures, since some pleasant things are unhealthy.\r\n\r\n(3) The reason for the view that the best thing in the world is not pleasure is that pleasure is not a goal but a process.\r\n\r\nThese are pretty much the things that are said.","rendered":"

The study of pleasure and pain belongs to the political philosopher, [1152b1]<\/sub> since he is the architect of the goal we look to when we call one thing bad and another thing good without qualification.<\/p>\n

Further, it is one of our necessary tasks to consider pleasure and pain. For not only did we lay it down that moral virtue and vice are concerned with pains and [5]<\/sub> pleasures, but most people say that happiness involves pleasure. This is why a makarious<\/em> (“blessedly happy person”) is called by a name derived from a word chairein <\/em>(“to enjoy”).<\/p>\n

Now (1) some people think that no pleasure is a good, either in itself or incidentally, since the good and pleasure are not the same. (2) Others think that some pleasures are good but that most are [10]<\/sub> bad. (3) Again there is a third view, that even if all pleasures are good, yet the best thing in the world cannot be pleasure.<\/p>\n

(1) The reasons given for the view that pleasure is not a good at all are (a) that every pleasure is a perceptible process to a natural state, and that no process is of the same kind as its goal; for instance, no process of building of the same kind as a house. (b) A temperate person avoids pleasures. (c) A prudent person [15]<\/sub> pursues what is free from pain, not what is pleasant. (d) The pleasures are a hindrance to thought, and the more so the more one delights in them; for example, in sexual pleasure, since no one could actively understand anything while absorbed in this. (e) There is no skill of pleasure; but every good is the product of some skill. (f) Children and the brutes pursue pleasures.<\/p>\n

(2) The reasons for the view that not all pleasures are good [20]<\/sub> are that (a) there are pleasures that are actually shameful and objects of reproach, and (b) there are harmful pleasures, since some pleasant things are unhealthy.<\/p>\n

(3) The reason for the view that the best thing in the world is not pleasure is that pleasure is not a goal but a process.<\/p>\n

These are pretty much the things that are said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-183","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":161,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/183\/revisions\/1273"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/161"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/183\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}