The Pleasure Principle
The Pleasure Principle
The purpose of life has been discussed since the beginning. No one knows the meaning of life, and if they do, they’re not telling. Even trying to write off life as having no point doesn’t satisfy anyone; it doesn’t’ make a difference. Brittany doesn’t like the egocentric view that humans take as to say the answer purpose of life exists solely within themselves, not animals or other species.
We don’t agree that religion holds the answer to the question of the purpose of life, although Freud suggests this.
Man wants happiness, basically. There’s 2 ways to go about it: the absence of pain, or pleasure. However, it seems that man’s plan to be happy has “not been included in the plan of ‘Creation’”. Happiness comes from the satisfaction of needs, but humans are made in a way that we can only derive intense enjoyment from things being contrasted and not from the state of things. For example, if you take a test, and you get a C, you are sad. If the next time you take a test you get an A, you are happy. This is a contrast. If you were to get A’s all the time, it wouldn’t make a difference to you, and so it wouldn’t produce happiness. Thus, “our possibilities of happiness are already restricted by our constitution”. Freud basically states that when any situation that is desired by the pleasure principle is prolonged, and then it creates a feeling of mild contentment in our lives. Therefore, possibilities of happiness is restricted by the law. Many of humankind's primitive instincts (for example, the desire to kill and the craving for sexual gratification) are clearly harmful to the well being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if its rules are broken. This process, Freud argues, is an inherent quality of civilization that instills perpetual feelings of discontent in its citizens.
Humans are threatened with suffering from 3 directions:
The purpose of life has been discussed since the beginning. No one knows the meaning of life, and if they do, they’re not telling. Even trying to write off life as having no point doesn’t satisfy anyone; it doesn’t’ make a difference. Brittany doesn’t like the egocentric view that humans take as to say the answer purpose of life exists solely within themselves, not animals or other species.
We don’t agree that religion holds the answer to the question of the purpose of life, although Freud suggests this.
Man wants happiness, basically. There’s 2 ways to go about it: the absence of pain, or pleasure. However, it seems that man’s plan to be happy has “not been included in the plan of ‘Creation’”. Happiness comes from the satisfaction of needs, but humans are made in a way that we can only derive intense enjoyment from things being contrasted and not from the state of things. For example, if you take a test, and you get a C, you are sad. If the next time you take a test you get an A, you are happy. This is a contrast. If you were to get A’s all the time, it wouldn’t make a difference to you, and so it wouldn’t produce happiness. Thus, “our possibilities of happiness are already restricted by our constitution”. Freud basically states that when any situation that is desired by the pleasure principle is prolonged, and then it creates a feeling of mild contentment in our lives. Therefore, possibilities of happiness is restricted by the law. Many of humankind's primitive instincts (for example, the desire to kill and the craving for sexual gratification) are clearly harmful to the well being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if its rules are broken. This process, Freud argues, is an inherent quality of civilization that instills perpetual feelings of discontent in its citizens.
Humans are threatened with suffering from 3 directions: