The patient will flatly assert that that, after all, the whole meaning of life is pleasure.
In The Doctor and the Soul Frankl described how many of his patients, looking for the meaning of their individual lives would end up in “ethical nihilism” because they held that the goal of life was pleasure. “only when the emotions work in terms of values can the individual feel pure “joy.” …joy can never be an end it itself…How well Kierkegaard expressed this in his maxim that the door to happiness opens outward.” Pleasure Undermines Meaning The man who strives for happiness as his goal can never find it Similar to Dietrich von Hildebrand who argued joy cannot be grasped, but is the “superabundant” fruit of love, Frankl argues that It also prevents real happiness because happiness is a byproduct. Frankl argues that a life in pursuit of pleasure leads to ethical nihilism. The great 20th century psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl who wrote the brilliant book Man’s Search for Meaning (which by the way if you have not read order it today) argues against pleasure principle in his book The Doctor and the Soul. While there is no doubt that pleasure is clearly a motivation in our lives, should we make it our goal, and is it really the main motivator as Freud argued? The Door to Happiness Opens Outward The pleasure principle can very very quickly lead to the use of others, to excess, and licentiousness. Epicurus, of Epicurean fame, argued for the importance of friendship and philosophy.Īt the same time, the lure of physical pleasure is strong, and the ability to rationalize our actions perhaps even stronger. After all, if we are merely material beings with no intrinsic value or difference from other animals if there is no God and no afterlife, why should we spend time worrying about the good? Isn’t pleasure enough? Now mind you a good number of people who argue for pleasure don’t simply equate pleasure with eating, drinking, and merriment. Pleasure as the goal of life was popularized in the modern period by thinkers like David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, and of course Sigmund Freud who argued that the pleasure principle was the driving force of all our actions.Īt first glance the argument for a life of pleasure might make sense. The argument for the life of pleasure is an ancient one, and our materialist context makes it even more attractive. Notwithstanding Aristotle’s reflections, it is a commonly view that the ultimate goal in life is in fact pleasure.
We often sacrifice virtue for the sake of honor, pleasure, or money. Real human happiness and a good life could only obtained by a life of virtue and excellence.
Pleasure is fleeting, wealth is always always acquired for the sake of something else–a big house, a nice car, influence –and honor comes from other people and can be taken away from you.
He argued that while pleasure, wealth, and honor were a part of a good life and human happiness, they could not constitute it.
#Pleasure principle free#
See also free energy, perception-consciousness system, pleasure-ego, primary process, principle of constancy.Aristotle asked what made the good life? Was it pleasure, material wealth, honor, or virtue? Also called the pleasure-pain principle or (awkwardly but closer to Freud's original German) the pleasure-unpleasure principle. 574), but later he fell in with Fechner's more natural terminology. Freud introduced the concept in his book The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), where he initially called it the unpleasure principle (Standard Edition, IV-V, at p. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) borrowed the concept from the German philosopher, physician, psychologist, and mystic Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801–87) who, in an article in the journal Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik in 1848, introduced the term (in its German form Lustprinzip) and noted that motives underlying actions can be unconscious. It is the governing principle of the id, in contrast to the reality principle, which is a governing principle of the ego. In psychoanalysis, the precept according to which psychological processes and actions are governed by the gratification of needs and the avoidance or discharge of unpleasurable tension.
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