Pleasure or Pain

We pointed out that destruction is cause by excess and defect each particular area of life: A person becomes a coward by running away and a self-indulgent person would be corrupted by pleasure. But with the proper application, the area in between, we get benefits. These are the things we “ought” to do. Someone who lifts weights will have more strength and someone who eats well will be healthy. He ought to work out a certain amount each week and to be healthy a person ought to eat certain foods. A person who is temperate will have self-discipline toward pleasure. When we hate the extremes enough to form habits of doing what we ought, avoiding extremes becomes easier. This is how to form good character. 

It can be assumed that a person who has good character can be identified by how he enjoys doing the right things or whether he despises them. A person who delights in abstaining from bodily pleasures is temperate and the person who is annoyed by discipline is self-indulgent. A person who likes to stand his ground is courageous and one who is pained by it is a coward. When we talk about moral excellence we see that it concerns pleasures and pains. Since we tend to do what brings us pleasure, those who are raised to delight in doing what is right will have a much easier time with those kind of actions. Plato said that the right education is to delight and be pained by the things we ought.

Since we assume virtue is a combination of actions and passions, pleasure and pain are the results that accompany them. Virtue therefore depends on pleasures and pains. The cure for many things is to apply the contrary. We apply cold to reduce fevers etc. Punishment is given by giving some kind of pain for bad behaviors and reward is given to encourage good behavior to bring pleasure.

We have been examining different states of the soul and the things that make life better or worse. Having pleasure and pain for the wrong things can steer people in the wrong direction. This can cause us to do what we ought not to do. We should pay attention to what brings us comfort and why. Some say that virtue is a passive state and only comes through abstaining, but in reality it is a matter of applying our passions in the way we ought to. Having excellence of virtue will help us to do what is best with our passions and bring happiness while vice, by ignoring what we ought to do, is apt to cause misery.