The Pleasures of Reason in Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic Hedonists

Human Lives Are Full Of Pleasures And Pains. And Humans Are Creatures That Are Able To Think: To Learn, Understand, Remember And Recall, Plan And Anticipate. Ancient Philosophers Were Interested In Both Of These Facts And, What Is More, Were Interested In How These Two Facts Are Related To One Another. There Appear To Be, After All, Pleasures And Pains Associated With Learning And Inquiring, Recollecting And Anticipating. We Enjoy Finding Something Out. We Are Pained To Discover That A Belief We Hold Is False. We Can Think Back And Enjoy Or Be Upset By Recalling Past Events. And We Can Plan For And Enjoy Imagining Pleasures Yet To Come. This Book Is About What Plato, Aristotle, The Epicureans And The Cyrenaics Had To Say About These Relationships Between Pleasure And Reason. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. Introduction: The Pleasures Of Reason -- Pleasure And Logismos -- Knowing And Learning -- Planning Ahead -- Remembering And Anticipating -- Reason And Emotion -- What The Lion Anticipates -- Damascius And The Donkey -- 2. Plato On The Pleasures And Pains Of Knowing -- Pleasures And Pains Of Learning In The Philebus -- The Pleasures And Pains Of The Cave -- Coming-to-know And Continuing To Know -- Resolving The Difficulty -- A Proposal -- Philebus 55a: Pleasure, Thought, And The Divine Life -- 3. Aristotle On The Pleasures Of Learning And Knowing -- A Natural Desire To Know -- Pleasures Of Thought In The Nicomachean Ethics -- Learning And Pleasure In Rhetoric 1.11 -- Learning And Pleasure In Poetics 4 -- Conclusions -- 4. Epicurus And Plutarch On Pleasure And Human Nature -- Epicureans On The Pleasures Of Learning And Knowing -- Epicureans Against Plato, Platonists Against Epicurus -- Plutarch's Platonist Attack On Epicurean Pleasures -- Plutarch And The Pleasures Of Reason -- Conclusions -- 5. Measuring Future Pleasures In Plato's Protagoras And Philebus -- Weighing And Measuring -- Measurement, Illusion, And Prudentialism -- The Salvation Of Life -- Philebus 4ie -- 42c -- Conclusions -- 6. Anticipation, Character, And Piety In Plato's Philebus -- Anticipation And False Pleasure -- True And False Pleasures And Piety -- The Unity Of A Life -- Character And False Pleasure -- Protagorean Hedonism And Consistency -- Conclusions -- 7. Aristotle On The Pleasures And Pains Of Memory -- Memory, Character, And Pleasure In The Nicomachean Ethics -- Memory And Phantasia -- The Memories Of Eumaeus -- 8. Epicureans And Cyrenaics On Anticipating And Recollecting Pleasures -- Epicurean Prudential Reasoning -- The Limits Of Prudential Reasoning -- Epicureans And Their Critics On Memory, Anticipation, And Pleasure -- Cyrenaic Recommendations -- The Pleasures Of Confident Expectation -- Conclusions -- 9. Epilogue. James Warren. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 11 Abbreviations 12 Chapter 1 Introduction: the pleasures of reason 15 Pleasure and logismos 15 Knowing and learning 18 Planning ahead 20 Remembering and anticipating 21 Reason and emotion 23 What the lion anticipates 25 Damascius and the donkey 33 Chapter 2 Plato on the pleasures and pains of knowing 35 Pleasures and pains of learning in the Philebus 37 The pleasures and pains of the cave 43 Coming-to-know and continuing to know 46 Resolving the difficulty 51 A proposal 60 Philebus 55a: pleasure, thought, and the divine life 64 Chapter 3 Aristotle on the pleasures of learning and knowing 66 A natural desire to know 67 Pleasures of thought in the Nicomachean Ethics 71 Learning and pleasure in Rhetoric 1.11 81 Learning and pleasure in Poetics 4 85 Conclusions 91 Chapter 4 Epicurus and Plutarch on pleasure and human nature 93 Epicureans on the pleasures of learning and knowing 93 Epicureans against Plato, Platonists against Epicurus 97 Plutarch’s Platonist attack on Epicurean pleasures 100 Plutarch and the pleasures of reason 109 Conclusions 116 Chapter 5 Measuring future pleasures in Plato’s Protagoras and Philebus 118 Weighing and measuring 119 Measurement, illusion, and prudentialism 125 The salvation of life 130 Philebus 41e–42c 133 Conclusions 141 Chapter 6 Anticipation, character, and piety in Plato’s Philebus 143 Anticipation and false pleasure 143 True and false pleasures and piety 150 The unity of a life 154 Character and false pleasure 159 Protagorean hedonism and consistency 165 Conclusions 168 Chapter 7 Aristotle on the pleasures and pains of memory 171 Memory, character, and pleasure in the Nicomachean Ethics 171 Memory and phantasia 177 The memories of Eumaeus 182 Chapter 8 Epicureans and Cyrenaics on anticipating and recollecting pleasures 189 Epicurean prudential reasoning 189 The limits of prudential reasoning 200 Epicureans and their critics on memory, anticipation, and pleasure 210 Cyrenaic recommendations 215 The pleasures of confident expectation 218 Conclusions 221 Chapter 9 Epilogue 224 References 227 Index locorum 239 Subject index 247