A City Based on Suffering
In book nine on the bottom of page 274 Socrates states,
"So we should be able to cite many cases in which people suffering pain pay no attention to the idea of enjoyment but instead prize relief from pain as the greatest pleasure."
This statement says something very disturbing about the overall types of ideals going into this city. While it is true that there is nothing more the suffering want than relief, I do not think it is a good idea to base an entire city on this idea. When I read this statement it made me shrivel up and feel sick to my stomach. If the only pleasure in this city is relief from pain, then I never want to set within more than 100 feet of it. I do not think that Socrates was implying that this relief would be the only pleasure, but the fact that he acknowledges that it is the strongest pleasure freaks me out a little.
After this point, the men later move into a discussion on what is pure pleasure vs. pure pain and they got me thinking on these ideas about pure pleasure being the absence of pain and pure pain being the absence of pleasure. If this is how it is, is pure pleasure heaven and pure pain hell? If pleasure = good and pain = bad, then pure pleasure would be within heaven with the glory of God and pure pain in the sheer awfulness of hell. I don't know for sure, it is just an idea. But I thought some other people might have some ideas on it.
Side note: I'm not sure about you all, but I for one am very happy to be done reading this book. ;)
"So we should be able to cite many cases in which people suffering pain pay no attention to the idea of enjoyment but instead prize relief from pain as the greatest pleasure."
This statement says something very disturbing about the overall types of ideals going into this city. While it is true that there is nothing more the suffering want than relief, I do not think it is a good idea to base an entire city on this idea. When I read this statement it made me shrivel up and feel sick to my stomach. If the only pleasure in this city is relief from pain, then I never want to set within more than 100 feet of it. I do not think that Socrates was implying that this relief would be the only pleasure, but the fact that he acknowledges that it is the strongest pleasure freaks me out a little.
After this point, the men later move into a discussion on what is pure pleasure vs. pure pain and they got me thinking on these ideas about pure pleasure being the absence of pain and pure pain being the absence of pleasure. If this is how it is, is pure pleasure heaven and pure pain hell? If pleasure = good and pain = bad, then pure pleasure would be within heaven with the glory of God and pure pain in the sheer awfulness of hell. I don't know for sure, it is just an idea. But I thought some other people might have some ideas on it.
Side note: I'm not sure about you all, but I for one am very happy to be done reading this book. ;)
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