Hedonism is overrated – to make the best of life there must be pain(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
Hedonism is overrated – to make the best of life there must be pain
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/23/hedonism-is-overrated-to-make-the-best-of-life-there-must-be-pain-says-yale-professor
4 comments
In the book "Stoic Challenge" William Irvine explores the concept of deliberate abstinence that many stoics submitted themselves to.
If you ate ice cream every day, then very soon your taste buds would grow accustomed to it, craving newer flavors. If you ate ice cream twice a year, you would experience a major taste sensation.
The purpose of abstinence is to keep those sensation events (and the joy derived from them) at high level.
If you ate ice cream every day, then very soon your taste buds would grow accustomed to it, craving newer flavors. If you ate ice cream twice a year, you would experience a major taste sensation.
The purpose of abstinence is to keep those sensation events (and the joy derived from them) at high level.
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J.G. Bennett: It is impossible to achieve the aim without suffering.
There is no inherent good to suffering. It’s just incredibly difficult to go through life without it.
You can’t have a baby without a painful birth, but you wouldn’t argue that the suffering associated with the pain of the birth means that suffering is a necessary condition for having meaningful life with your child.
“Pain is mandatory; suffering is optional”
This misguided professor (he is of course well-known) does get at something genuinely true though: meaning can be more worthwhile than pleasure. But the suffering part has got nothing to do with it.