Pain And Pain In Thomas Hurka's Philosophy

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I had many mixed views after finishing my most recent read of The Best Things in Life: A Guide to What Really Matters, by Thomas Hurka. I agree with his idea that the value pain is greater than the value pleasure. I oppose Hurka’s views more than I agree with them. I disagree with the idea that only pleasure is good and only pain is evil and the idea of ethical hedonism. While reading, Hurka’s idea of pleasure and pain in chapter three caught my eye. I agree with Hurka’s idea that pain is more evil than pleasure is good, and relieving pain increases your well-being more than increasing pleasure does. The value of pleasure and pain is described as asymmetric because pain’s value is greater than pleasure’s value is an important lesson in chapter three. The desire satisfaction theory is “something is intrinsically good …show more content…

An example of an evil pleasure deals with Ted Bundy and his desire to murder people. Bundy found pleasure in hurting and killing strangers. This type of pleasure is called malicious pleasure and it is evil because it is morally wrong. Killing brought Bundy pleasure at the time but was his downfall. An example of a good pain is a virtuous pain. A virtuous pain is showing compassion to individuals that have lost someone. By showing someone in pain compassion, a virtue where someone cares about someone’s well-being, the virtue turns the evil of pain into something good. I disagree with Hurka’s idea, all pains are evil and all pleasures are good, because of the examples of malicious pain and virtuous pain. The idea is inconsistent with the desire satisfaction theory. Malicious pleasure is inconsistent because even though someone may desire something, what you desire can be intrinsically bad. Virtuous pain is inconsistent because someone may not desire to be compassionate, but it is intrinsically good for you because it is morally

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