GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

406
'
ETHICS
It harmonizes, I am prepared to admit, but ill with the
strain of austere exposition which is, or should be, the
dominating motif of this book. I venture to put forward
three considerations in my defence. First, this is one of
the few passages in which I am permitting myself to air
my own views. Secondly, there is some ground for thinking
that the truth embodied in the by-product theory of
pleasure is in an exceptional degree neglected by the age
in which we live. Thirdly, since the truth upon which
I am insisting is one which no man will take upon trust
from his neighbour, but which each must discover for
himself, and discover only through the boredom and
disillusion which attend its neglect, my moralizing is not
likely to be taken seriously except by those for whom it is
superfluous.
REASONS FOR BY-PRODUCT THEORY OF
PLEASURE, (i) Schopenhauer's Account of Pleasure. But,
it may be asked, is this fact upon which I have insisted,
the &ct, namely, that pleasure must not be pursued
directly, a purely arbitrary fact? If it is indeed a fact, why
should it be one? Various explanations are in the field.
There is, for example, the view, advanced by Schopenhauer,
that pleasure is a state of satisfied consciousness which
is necessarily dependent upon a preceding state of dis-
satisfaction. Schopenhauer is to-day chiefly known for
his philosophy of pessimism, a pessimism which is directly
derivable from his conception of the underlying principle
of life as an unconscious urge or impulse, which he called
the Will. Every individual is for Schopenhauer a particular
manifestation or expression of the Will. The Will expresses
itself in the individual's consciousness in the form of a
continual succession of wants or needs, and it is the pain
of want which causes the individual to take action which
is designed to satisfy die want When the want is satisfied,
the individual feels pleasure, but feels it only for a moment,
since, as wanting or needing is the very stuff of life, the
satisfied want is immediately replaced by another. Since