Is Pleasure Merely The Absence Of Pain?

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Hi All!

I believe that pleasure is thus - The absence of pain.

Do you agree or disagree with this?
And, if so, Why?

Thank you all in advance - your views will be welcome, indeed!

Have a great weekend, all of you (Except those who have requested exemption from my gestures, of course)!

Mark...

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Type: Question • Score: 6 • Views: 6,399 • Replies: 35

[+4] - blueveinedthrobber - 06/26/2010For some people pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin....and in some places you have to pay extra for that.

@mark noble,

I think not. Physically, pain is a product of your nervous system, as is pleasure. In this sense, it seems to me you can feel pain, pleasure or neither at any given time. You might even feel pleasure and pain at the same time. Or you might just not be feeing any significant stimulation at some point. No pleasure, no pain.

I might have a mild headache and at the same time enjoy pleasure eating an ice cream. So pleasure here is not in the absence of pain but alongside it.

Emotionally I reckon its more complicated but I think even here there is a clear distinction to be made. You may not be feeling any emotional pain and still not feel any pleasure. Apathy or numbness.

1 Reply

@lnm,

Inm, You're spot on! We can experience pleasure and pain at the same time; sometimes pain hightens pleasure.

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For some people pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin....and in some places you have to pay extra for that.

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Hey Mark!

Who has refused your gestures? We really do have some idiocy in this world if people do such a thing! How we strive for some common decency heh?

Anyway, pleasure.

Pain would be the wrong thing to antithesise pleasure with (if you are indeed trying to contrast pleasure), simply for the fact that some people enjoy pain, to the point of it being a pleasure. More appropriately would be pleasure and unpleasure. The absence of unpleasure does not immediately mean pleasure, there is always a middle ground where someone can feel nothingness, right? For example, my knee is not in pain right now, but it does not feel pleasure either.

That's my two cents.

Take it easy, my friend.

Mike

1 Reply

@Transcend,

Hi Mike!

Good point! There is, indeed a middle ground, But I find pleasure therein because I lack pain - to travel up the spectrum on the pleasure side is indulgence, which may or may not be to one's liking or ability.

If someone gains pleasure from pain then they are pleased to be in pain - Hence, they are in pleasure-mode. If someone is in pain, a hurting unpleasant pain - They are in pain-mode.

Being in the middle-ground as you call it, is being absent from pain - This to me is pleasurable.

I'm not talking about joy and sadness - Only how simple pleasure is, and how it is so overlooked, by the seekers of more than humility. Enough never seems to be enough.

Thank you for rewarding me with your observations and views, my friend, I cherish them all.

Have a smashing weekend Mike.
Mark...

2 Replies

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi All!

I believe that pleasure is thus - The absence of pain.

Do you agree or disagree with this?
And, if so, Why?

Thank you all in advance - your views will be welcome, indeed!

Have a great weekend, all of you (Except those who have requested exemption from my gestures, of course)!

Mark...

You think that if someone has a sexual orgasm that is simply the absence of pain?

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

Hi Ken,
Aren't you limiting the pleasure-spectrum a little?
What is your definition of pleasure in its least applicable form?

Kind regards Ken.
Mark...

1 Reply

@mark noble,

If you gain pleasure in the abscence of pain, then that is exellent. It shows an awareness that surpasses mine.

Maybe I should be more thankful for the lack of pains I have.

Cheers!

Mike

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@mark noble,

From what I remember of physiological psychology, mammals appear to possess a "pleasure" centre in the brain, such that they prefer (electrical) stimulation of it in preference to eating even when in a dangerously malnourished state.

Woody Allen's "orgasmatron" comes to mind here from his film "The Sleeper"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpX5BWHiGGA From 6 minutes in

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@mark noble,

Quote:

If someone gains pleasure from pain then they are pleased to be in pain - Hence, they are in pleasure-mode.

But by those very terms they are also in pain. Therefore they experience both.

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Pleasure is not merely the absence of pain nor is Pain the absence of pleasure; they're relative concepts - whether physical, mental, psychological/emotional or upon any plain.

One who feels no pain at all could be said to be in some relative state of pain; but that'd depend on the person and the circumstances (not the least of which would be how he/she perceived it).

Thanks

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@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi Ken,
Aren't you limiting the pleasure-spectrum a little?
What is your definition of pleasure in its least applicable form?

Kind regards Ken.
Mark...

I pointed out that it would be absurd to say that a sexual orgasm was merely the absence of pain (although, of course, it is the absence of pain). Therefore, I have given a clear case of a pleasure that is not merely the absence of pain. Therefore, I have refuted the view that pleasure is merely the absence of pain. QED.

I think that in part, the view that pleasure is the absence of pain comes out of confusing two sentences: 1. Pleasure is the absence of pain with 2. Pleasure is merely the absence of pain. 1 is true. But 2 is false. I think that 1 and 2 are often confused, so that although 1 is true, people confuse it with 2. But 2 is false. So, I think that the truth is that although pleasure is the absence of pain, pleasure is not merely the absence of pain. As an historical matter, the Greek philosophy of Epicureanism was sold as the philosophy that pleasure is merely the absence of pain under the guise of pleasure is the absence of pain.A kind of bait and switch ruse all too familiar in philosophy.

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

Hi Ken,

Well Spotted! Of course - Pleasure is the absence of pain, but "Merely" the absence of pain? No. The addition of "merely" to the sentence restricts the characteristics thereof.

Good on you ken!

Kind regards.
mark...

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@mark noble,

Pleasure is the OPPOSITE of pain.

Pleasure is joining the Opulent Mensan Special Interest Group n attending its ventures.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Hi David!

Abslutely! Pleasure is pain's opposite. The problem comes in the defining of - Why? Because "One man's pain is another man's pleasure".

Have a great weekend sir!
Mark...

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@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi David!

Abslutely! Pleasure is pain's opposite. The problem comes in the defining of - Why?
Because "One man's pain is another man's pleasure".

Have a great weekend sir!
Mark...

In my youth, I greatly enjoyed my weekends
and regarded Mondays with distaste. This weekend, I wish the weekend woud end and Monday will swiftly arrive.

David

1 Reply

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi David!

Abslutely! Pleasure is pain's opposite. The problem comes in the defining of - Why? Because "One man's pain is another man's pleasure".

Have a great weekend sir!
Mark...

To say that for some (relatively) few people, pain causes some pleasure, is very different from saying that pain is pleasure for some people (which is what you seem to be saying). The fact that pain produces pleasure for some is one thing, and is true. But that pain is pleasure for some is simply false. You are confusing: pain produces pleasure with pain is pleasure. The first is true. The second is false.

"Everything is what it is, and not another thing". Joseph Butler.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

mark noble wrote:

Hi David!

Abslutely! Pleasure is pain's opposite. The problem comes in the defining of - Why?
Because "One man's pain is another man's pleasure".

Have a great weekend sir!
Mark...

In my youth, I greatly enjoyed my weekends
and regarded Mondays with distaste. This weekend, I wish the weekend woud end and Monday will swiftly arrive.

And that shows what? Only that your tastes have changed. It shows nothing about pain or pleasure.

David

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

mark noble wrote:

Hi David!

Abslutely! Pleasure is pain's opposite. The problem comes in the defining of - Why?
Because "One man's pain is another man's pleasure".

Have a great weekend sir!
Mark...

OmSigDAVID wrote:

In my youth, I greatly enjoyed my weekends
and regarded Mondays with distaste. This weekend, I wish the weekend woud end and Monday will swiftly arrive.

kennethamy wrote:

And that shows what? Only that your tastes have changed.
It shows nothing about pain or pleasure.

It is specific to this weekend and the pleasure that will arrive at its end.

David

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Is Pleasure Merely The Absence Of Pain?

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