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

248 Pages·2014·1.87 MB·English

by  James Warren

THE PLEASURES OF REASON IN PLATO,
ARISTOTLE, AND THE HELLENISTIC
HEDONISTS
Humanlivesarefullofpleasuresandpains.Andhumansarecreatures
thatareabletothink:tolearn,understand,rememberandrecall,plan
andanticipate.Ancientphilosopherswereinterestedinbothofthese
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
painsassociatedwithlearningand inquiring, recollectingand antici-
pating. We enjoy finding something out. We are pained to discover
thatabeliefweholdisfalse.Wecanthinkbackandenjoyorbeupset
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
betweenpleasureandreason.
jameswarrenisaReaderinAncientPhilosophyattheUniversityof
CambridgeandaFellowofCorpusChristiCollege.Heistheauthorof
EpicurusandDemocriteanEthics(2002),FacingDeath:Epicurusandhis
Critics(2004),andPresocratics(2007),andtheeditorofTheCambridge
Companion to Epicureanism (2009) and, with Frisbee Sheffield, The
Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy (2014). He has published
articlesonawiderangeoftopicsinancientphilosophy.

THE PLEASURES OF REASON
IN PLATO, ARISTOTLE,
AND THE HELLENISTIC
HEDONISTS
JAMES WARREN
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Firstpublished2014
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Warren,James,1974–
ThepleasuresofreasoninPlato,Aristotle,andtheHellenistichedonists/JamesWarren.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-02544-8
1. Plato. 2. Aristotle. 3. Epicureans(Greek
philosophy) 4. Pleasure. 5. Reason. 6. Learning. I. Title.
b398.p56w37 2014
180–dc23
2014018779
isbn978-1-107-02544-8Hardback
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For Dad, in memory of Mum
ἡδὺ πανταχόθεν ἡ φίλου μνήμη τεθνηκότος
.
1105e
Epicurus in Plutarch, Non Posse

Contents
Acknowledgements page ix
Listofabbreviations x
1 Introduction:thepleasuresofreason 1
Pleasureandlogismos 1
Knowingandlearning 4
Planningahead 6
Rememberingandanticipating 7
Reasonandemotion 9
Whatthelionanticipates 11
Damasciusandthedonkey 19
2 Platoonthepleasuresandpainsofknowing 21
PleasuresandpainsoflearninginthePhilebus 23
Thepleasuresandpainsofthecave 29
Coming-to-knowandcontinuingtoknow 32
Resolvingthedifficulty 37
Aproposal 46
Philebus55a:pleasure,thought,andthedivinelife 50
3 Aristotleonthepleasuresoflearningandknowing 52
Anaturaldesiretoknow 53
PleasuresofthoughtintheNicomacheanEthics 57
LearningandpleasureinRhetoric1.11 67
LearningandpleasureinPoetics4 71
Conclusions 77
4 EpicurusandPlutarchonpleasureandhumannature 79
Epicureansonthepleasuresoflearningandknowing 79
EpicureansagainstPlato,PlatonistsagainstEpicurus 83
Plutarch’sPlatonistattackonEpicureanpleasures 86
Plutarchandthepleasuresofreason 95
Conclusions 102
vii
viii Contents
5 MeasuringfuturepleasuresinPlato’sProtagorasandPhilebus 104
Weighingandmeasuring 105
Measurement,illusion,andprudentialism 111
Thesalvationoflife 116
Philebus41e–42c 119
Conclusions 127
6 Anticipation,character,andpietyinPlato’sPhilebus 129
Anticipationandfalsepleasure 129
Trueandfalsepleasuresandpiety 136
Theunityofalife 140
Characterandfalsepleasure 145
Protagoreanhedonismandconsistency 151
Conclusions 154
7 Aristotleonthepleasuresandpainsofmemory 157
Memory,character,andpleasureintheNicomacheanEthics 157
Memoryandphantasia 163
ThememoriesofEumaeus 168
8 EpicureansandCyrenaicsonanticipatingandrecollecting
pleasures 175
Epicureanprudentialreasoning 175
Thelimitsofprudentialreasoning 186
Epicureansandtheircriticsonmemory,anticipation,andpleasure 196
Cyrenaicrecommendations 201
Thepleasuresofconfidentexpectation 204
Conclusions 207
9 Epilogue 210
References 213
Indexlocorum 225
Subjectindex 233