Plato, The Stoics And The Epicureans Views On Pleasure And Pain. Essay, Research Paper

Plato?s believes that the body is nothing

but constant distraction to the soul. The five senses, along with

pleasure and pain are among the most distracting feature of the body because

with them, one cannot search for reality. Plato viewed death as the

one release from the body in which the soul is free to search with reality,

since it has no contact or association with the body. Plato thinks

of pleasure and pain, as something one cannot have without the other, ?A

man cannot have both at the same time. Yet if he pursues and catches

one, he is bound to catch the other.?

But Plato believed that to distance your

self from pleasure and pain as much as possible.

On the other hand, the Epicureans believed

it was natural for humans to seek the pleasant life above all other things,

this included needs that are natural and necessary such as food and shelter,

and often needs that were natural and unnecessary such as sexual gratification.

The Epicurean philosophy did not include needs that were unnatural and

unnecessary such as wealth and extreme luxury. Epicureans believed

that by trying to satisfy the unnatural and unnecessary pleasures, that

one would ultimately find disappointment, failure or illness in the end.

Finally the Stoics believed all that occurs,

happens in accordance to Natural Law. Their two fundamentals are:

1. Whatever happens is the inevitable

outcome of the logic of the universe.

2. Whatever happens, is for a reason,

and therefore is fore the best.

According to these two fundamentals, Stoics

outage on the body would be to go with whatever seems natural, and whatever

it is, cannot be helped. The ideal stoic would go about life as an

actor in a play, playing the roll they are assigned. If one becomes

ill, the would play the part accordingly. The stoic philosophy also

say to remain uninvolved emotionally in your fate, and you will live an

untroubled life. If someone adheres to this philosophy, they would

in essence live a pleasant life. However, the Stoic views of pleasure

and pain could would be to simply accept them, and let your opinions of

them get in the way.

Personally, I feel the views of the Epicureans

is the one I agree with the most, however they all have qualities that

I believe in. The main reason I agree with the Epicureans, is for

their belief that people should not go after pleasures that are unnatural

or unnecessary. Although there are a few pleasures I do go for that

are unnatural and unnecessary(such as the computer I am typing on.)

I do think people do not have to live an extravagant life style, such as

the pursuit of wealth and power. And I feel all people should get

the necessary and natural pleasures fulfilled. I believed this prior

to taking any philosophy courses, and I will continue to believe this for

some time to come.