نظريات الفاعلية، طبيعة اللذة والالم .. كتاب علم النَّفس جميل صَليبا

Theories of agency, the nature of pleasure and pain

The inability of mental theories to explain pleasures and pains through beliefs and thoughts has forced us to investigate their nature from another point of view, that is, from the point of view of active life. Our philosophers of effectiveness are divided into two groups: the first group claims that effectiveness is the source of pain, and the second claims that it is the source of pleasure. Let us now examine each of these two doctrines.

1 - Efficacy is the source of pain: the opinion of Epicurus, Kant, and Schopenhauer: Epicurus (1) used to say: Efficiency is the cause of emotion, and man by nature loves pleasure, because he finds his happiness in it, except that pleasure is the cessation of pain. It is either physical or psychological, and has no value unless it is attributed to pain. Therefore, its nature is negative, because it is only generated by the cessation of pain. Kant also said: Life is a struggle and a struggle, and every struggle is tiring. As for pleasure, it is the cessation of pain, that is, abandoning reality and moving away from the present state, because it is misery and misery. Life requires action, and action generates pain (2). This doctrine of Kant does not differ from the doctrine of Verri, the Italian philosopher, who used to say (Epicurus) that pleasure is not a positive state, but rather the cessation of pain. Among what Kant also said is that pleasure does not follow pleasure, and it cannot be perceived except after Pain. Pain is the basis of pleasure, and it is necessary to feel it. De Hartmann, Schopenhauer, and other pessimists took this doctrine and used it as evidence of the corruption and misery of life. In their terminology, pleasure is a means of arousing desires and increasing pain. An example of this is that hunger is one of the pains. The soul feels it when the stomach is empty of food. If the body gets up in search of sustenance, corruption and the soul are removed from pain. If the need for food subsides and the stomach is filled, the soul finds comfort, and that comfort is called pleasure.

Discussing this doctrine: - There is no doubt that there is some truth in the words of Epicurus, Kant, and Schopenhauer due to their linking pleasures and pains with activity, except that the results they reached are not generally true, because effectiveness, according to their claim, only generates pain, and therefore Either a person abstains from action and refrains from movement in order to get rid of misery, so he lives in “Nirwana” according to the Buddhists, and drowns in the pleasure of stillness, or he strives with all his might to keep pain away from himself, seizing pleasures through it, and adopting selfishness as his path - they say that life is jihad and misery. - But jihad may generate pleasure, but action does not generate pain unless it is prolonged and goes beyond the limit of moderation. Absence from work is most painful. Pascal said, “If a person complains to you about his misery and fatigue, then leave him alone without working.” What this means is that unemployment is more severe. Pain to the soul from work. In addition to that, pleasure may follow pleasure, contrary to what Kant believed, and that pain may sometimes result from the cessation of pleasure. Therefore, you cannot make pain the essence of life and activity.

2 - Efficiency is the source of pleasure: - Most philosophers of our time have unanimously agreed to reject Schopenhauer’s theory and accept Aristotle’s theory. What is this theory?

A - The principle of Aristotle's theory: -- Pleasure is generated from activity. The first teacher said:
-D It appears that happiness and contentment only occur in action. Pleasure is not the act itself, nor is it an internal, intrinsic quality of it. Rather, it is a final perfection that completes the act and joins it, like the flower of youth joining the happy years that revive it.
Every work has its own pleasure, and the goal of pleasure is to increase the intensity of the work associated with it, (1)

But if the pleasure is in the action, why is it not continuous, and why does it turn into pain after the action continues? . There is a pleasure in walking on foot; But if walking for a long time causes pain.

Although Aristotle did not say that pleasure slows down and ends with the completion of the action, we say to clarify his words that the human faculties are incapable of acting continuously, so action is one thing, and excessive action is another thing. Pleasure, then, is in moderate action.

(Figure - 18)
The solid graphic line represents an increase in the intensity of the feeling, and the scalpel line BKKH represents a change in the state of emotion. The section above the comma (ms) is positive, and indicates pleasure, and the section below it is negative, which indicates pain. The greatest pleasure is found in (k) and the least in (b) and (h). If the line of emotion intersects the comma (ms), the pleasure is reversed. To pain, then pleasure is in moderate action.

B - Hamilton’s correction: - Hamilton corrected Aristotle’s words by saying: The appropriate capacity is the complete capacity. But what is the complete capacity? The capacity is not complete unless the amount expended from it is equivalent to the amount saved without any increase or decrease. The result is then dependent on the quantity. The effectiveness expended and the intensity of the effect. Spencer said: (If you put the negative pains resulting from need and loss of work at one end, and make the positive pains arising
As for the increase in action at another end, the pleasure was identical to the actions confined between these two extremes. (1) There is pain resulting from the loss of action, such as the need to hear sound after long silence, the need for light after complete darkness, and the need for movement after stillness. There is pain resulting from excessive action. Like the need to be still after movement. And the need for rest after work, etc. So, pleasure is confined between two pains. It is neither found in excess nor in negligence, but rather in moderate action.