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

ETHICAL THEORY SURVEYED 407
the pleasure which attends the satisfaction of want is
dependent upon the pre-existence
of the want which it
satisfies, we cannot obtain the pleasure of satisfaction
without undergoing the preceding pain of want we
cannot, in short, feast unless we are first prepared to fast
and the attempt to enjoy the pleasure after the want is
satisfied results only in boredom and satiety. It is for this
reason that the devotees of the so-called life of pleasure,
which aims at the continual enjoyment of pleasure without
the intervening pain of want, probably enjoy themselves
less than those who devote themselves to hard and un-
remitting effort
Since the pain of need or desire is a permanent condition
of living, and the. pleasure of satisfaction is transitory,
life, regarded* as a commercial speculation with pleasure
on the credit and pain on the debit side, must, according
to Schopenhauer, be regarded as a failure. We cannot
remain satisfied, try as we will, but are driven forward by
the remorseless urge of life, expressing itself in a continuously
recurring series of new wants and impelling us
to make ever fresh efforts to satisfy them. These may or
may not be successful, but the pleasure of success is precarious
and short, while the pain of newly recurring need
is certain.
(a)
Plato on Mixed and Unmixed Pleasures. It is not
necessary to accept Schopenhauer's general metaphysical
view, or even the pessimistic conclusion which he derives
from his ethical theory, to recognize the force of his con-
tentions in their bearing upon pleasure. It is, however,
difficult to. resist the conclusion that he pushes them too
far. Not all the pleasures are dependent upon pre-existing
need; not all are conditioned by the pain of boredom or
the spur of desire. Some pleasures, although not perhaps
the most intense, are enjoyed for themselves. These Plato,
in a famous passage in a Dialogue called the Philtbus,
entitled " pure pleasures ".
Pure pleasures are distinguished from impure pleasures
by reason of the fact that they contain no admixture of