[Moral Science; A Compendium of Ethics by Alexander Bain]@TWC D-Link bookMoral Science; A Compendium of Ethics PART II 39/699
More remarkable is the farther assertion that Pleasure is only _present_ or _realized_ consciousness; the memory of pleasures past, and the idea of pleasures to come, are not to be counted; the painful accompaniments of desire, hope, and fear, are sufficient to neutralize any enjoyment that may arise from ideal bliss, Consequently, the happiness of a life means the sum total of these moments of realized or present pleasure.
He recognized pleasures of the mind, as well as of the body; sympathy with the good fortunes of friends or country gives a thrill of genuine and lively joy.
Still, the pleasures and the pains of the body, and of one's own self, are more intense; witness the bodily inflictions used in punishing offenders. The Cyrenaics denied that there is anything just, or honourable, or base, by nature; all depended on the laws and customs.
These laws and customs the wise man obeys, to avoid punishment and discredit from the society where he lives; doubtless, also, from higher motives, if the political constitution, and his fellow citizens generally, can inspire him with respect. Neither the Cynics nor the Cyrenaics made any profession of generous or disinterested impulses. ARISTOTLE.
[384-322 B.C.] Three treatises on Ethics have come down associated with the name of Aristotle; one large work, the Nicomachean Ethics, referred to by general consent as the chief and important source of Aristotle's views; and two smaller works, the Eudemian Ethics, and the Magna Moralia, attributed by later critics to his disciples.
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