PL 827 : The Pleasure Principle
Spring 09
DAY / TIME : W 1:00 - 2:50 P.M.
PROFESSOR : J.-L. SOLÈRE
COURSE DESCRIPTION :
Reflecting on the relations between beatitude and morality, the Middle Ages had carefully
circumscribed the place of pleasure in its ethical system: pleasure is not the highest good; but
God, the highest good, which must be sought for itself, does in addition provide the highest
pleasure, happiness.
During the Renaissance and the 17th c., Neo-Epicurism and Augustinism paradoxically agreed on
the fact that man, guided by self-love, acts only according to what is pleasurable to him. There
ensued heated controversies. Are we able of disinterested feelings and actions? This issue affect
non only ethics, but the religious and political domains as well. Whereas the Quietists (Fénelon)
claimed that God must be loved without any expectation, the Jansenists (Pascal, Nicole)
answered that grace is a spiritual pleasure, while Leibniz was trying to find a middle way.
Extreme selfishness, the supporters of the pleasure principle contended, is compatible with wellorganized societies: way beyond Hobbes’ combination of personal interest and shrewd
calculation, Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees affirmed that private vices make public virtues.
As a response to this cynical description of mankind, another type of pleasure was pointed out:
the esthetic pleasure, which proves to be disinterested (Hutcheson). This different kind of
pleasure provided the paradigm for exploring the complexity of sentiments, where pleasure is
reconcilable with altruism (Hume). At the same time, the pleasure of beauty became the object of
a new discipline: esthetics (theorized by Kant), while the right to individual pleasure and
happiness made its way in public opinion with the promoters of Enlightenment and modern
hedonism (Diderot).
We will study the reassessment, in the Renaissance and early 17th c., of the classical ethics
(Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, the Stoics), by thinkers such as Valla, Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza,
Hobbes, Locke, Malebranche and Bayle. We will then tackle the development and ramifications
of the story told above.
This class will not be only a course on ethics properly speaking (with questions such as: Is
pleasure compatible with objective moral values? Can it constitute the norm, the only regulation,
of our actions?), but more generally on philosophical anthropology and politics, and also an
inquiry on the nature of pleasure in itself and its status in psychological life broadly construed
(with questions such as: Is there a notion of pleasure encompassing all the pleasures, physical and
intellectual? Can we establish qualitative and/or quantitative distinctions between pleasures? Is
there a universal standard of pleasure, or is pleasure indefinitely variable according to the
individuals? Does happiness consists in continuous pleasures, in an addition of pleasures, in a
maximum of pleasure, in a variety of pleasures?, etc.).
READINGS :
Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Mandeville, The Fable Of The Bees And Other Writings, Hackett 1997.
Hume, Moral Philosophy, Hackett 2006.
Diderot: Political Writings, ed. J. H. Mason, and R. Wokler, CUP 1992 (Cambridge Texts in the
History of Political Thought).
The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham And Mill, Hackett 2003.
Other works and selections: photocopies or e-texts.
CLASS POLICY:
Texts assigned in the syllabus must be studied in advance for making the best of each class.
COURSE CREDIT
Class participation and presentations; final paper.
OFFICE HOURS
W 4:30-6:30, Dept. of Philosophy (21 Campanella Way, 3rd Floor), # 390. Tel.: 617-552-4670.
I am also most often in my office on T and TH afternoon; or, we can make an appointment. I do
not respond by email to course questions, but I’ll be glad to talk to you.
SYLLABUS
CLASS 1 – JAN. 14
Introduction
CLASS 2 – JAN. 21
The Platonic-Freudian model. The Aristotelian model: Aquinas, Sum of Theology, IaIIae,
qq.31-34, 2, 4 (e-text).
CLASS 3 – JAN. 28
Enemies of pleasure? Stoics and Neo-stoicism: Justus Lipsius (selections).
CLASS 4 – FEB. 4
The rehabilitation of Epicurus: Montaigne, Quevedo, Gassendi/Bernier, Charleton (selections).
CLASS 5 – FEB. 11
Virtue and happiness, Descartes’ renewal of the classical balance: Letters to Princess
Elizabeth and Queen Christine (selections).
CLASS 6 – FEB. 18
The force of desire: Hobbes, "Elements of Law", part I, chap. 7 to chap. 10 section 4; Spinoza,
Ethics, part III (selections).
CLASS 7 – FEB. 25
The triumph of pleasure, 1: Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II,
chap. 7 sections 1-6, chap. 20, chap. 21 section 31-45 & 54-70.
SPRING BREAK
CLASS 8 – MARCH 11
The triumph of pleasure, 2: Valla, On Pleasure (selections); Bayle, Dictionary, art. “Epicurus”
and. “Paulicians”.
(NB: no class on March 18, instructor away for conference)
CLASS 9 – MARCH 25
Between eudemonism and hedonism: the ambiguities of Augustinianism: S. Augustine: The
Confessions, book X (can be found online in the library database "Past Masters", from p.256,
"Universal desire for happiness" to p.280, "Summary of all his discoveries"). -- S. Augustine,
The City of God, book XIV, which can be found on line in the "Christian Classics Etheral
Library", http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XIV.html (book XIV shows in the table of
contents, on the side menu, as "On the punishment and results of man's first sin ..."); plus
selections.
CLASS 10 – APRIL 1
Self-interest and pure love : Fénelon, On Spiritual Progress (selections); Leibniz, Letter on
pure love, New Essay Concerning Human Understanding (selections); La Rochefoucauld,
Maximes (selections).
CLASS 11 – APRIL 8
Private vices and public virtues: Nicole, On charity and self-love; Mandeville, The Fable of
the Bees.
CLASS 12 – APRIL 15
Pleasures of a different type, 1: moral sense and beauty, Francis Hutcheson, "An inquiry
into the original of our ideas of beauty and virtue", Preface, Treatise I sections I-VI, Treatise II
sections I to IV.
CLASS 13 – APRIL 22
Pleasures of a different type, 2: on the pleasantness of being ethical, Hume: "A Treatise of
Human Nature", Book II part I sect. VII, Book III part I sections I & II, part III sections I and
III; "An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals" sections I, II, V, Appendices I & II (= in
the "Moral Philosophy" Hackett volume pp.26-28, 67-82, 151-163, 170-173, 187-196, 218-231,
268-280).
CLASS 14 – APRIL 29
The eighteenth century civilized hedonism: Diderot, “Happiness” and “Pleasure”, from the
Encyclopedia; D’Alembert’s Dream (selections); Supplement to Bougainville’s Voyage.
CLASS 15 – MAY 5
The reign of utility: Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation.