Pleasure and Human Good in Epicurus

2020 ◽  
pp. 309-340
Author(s):  
Panos Dimas
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Conditions ◽  
Human Good ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

In this paper, I argue that Epicurus is a psychological hedonist but not an ethical one. Though he holds a unitary conception of pleasure, he also maintains a distinction between kinetic and katastematic pleasures. This is designed to serve diagnostic purposes by identifying categorially distinct psychological conditions in which an agent may experience pleasure. I show that the evidence does not commit Epicurus to ethical hedonism but rather provides grounds for doubting it. I then sketch a proposal regarding Epicurus’ conception of the human good. Though not hedonistic, this conception does justice to Epicurus’ well-attested preoccupation with pleasure and pain by pointing to these feelings as the only reliable epistemic tool available to humans in pursuing their final end. Finally, this conception identifies the individual human being’s phusis as the fundamental bearer of value.

The Limits of Well-Being

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelly Kagan
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Philosophical Discussion ◽  
States Of Affairs ◽  
Human Good ◽  
Good For ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

What are the limits of well-being? This question nicely captures one of the central debates concerning the nature of the individual human good. For rival theories differ as to what sort of facts directly constitute a person's being well-off. On some views, well-being is limited to the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. But other views push the boundaries of well-being beyond this, so that it encompasses a variety of mental states, not merely pleasure alone. Some theories then draw the line here, limiting well-being to the presence of the appropriately broadened set of mental states. But still others extend the limits of well-being even further, so that it is constituted in part by facts that are not themselves mental states at all; on such views, well-being is partly constituted by states of affairs that are “external” to the individual's experiences.In this essay, I want to explore some of this debate by focusing on a particular stretch of the dialectic. That is, I want to think hard about a particular connected series of arguments and counterarguments. These arguments – or, at least, the concerns they seek to express – emerge naturally in the give and take of philosophical discussion. Together they make up a rather simple story, whose plot, in very rough terms, is this: first there is an attempt to push the limits of well-being outward, moving from a narrow to a broader conception; then comes the claim that the resulting notion is too broad, and so we must retreat to a narrower conception after all.

Spatial and Temporal Organization of the Individual Human Cerebellum

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Marek ◽  
Joshua S. Siegel ◽  
Evan M. Gordon ◽  
Ryan V. Raut ◽  
Caterina Gratton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Organization ◽  
Human Cerebellum ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

Organizing Things in Dickens

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Auyoung
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Bleak House ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
Concrete Objects ◽  
Comprehension Process ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

This chapter demonstrates how the organization of narrative information can shape a reader’s impression of what is represented. It focuses on two ways in which concrete objects are arranged in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House: as specific members of general categories and as part of causally connected narrative structures. Dickens relies on these representational strategies to capture a scale of reality no longer suited to the individual human body. In doing so, he also reveals that the realist novel’s conventional commitment to individual experience at the scale of concrete particulars reflects constraints on the comprehension process.

History: changing the forms or forming the changes?

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
SVEND ERIK LARSEN
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Vitruvian Man ◽  
Human Responsibility ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

Change in European cultural history has, for a long period, been discussed through two interrelated notions, that of science and that of history. This paper traces the various stages of this discussion from Antiquity to the present day from the point of view of history. Two reoccurring and paradigmatic characters of mythological descent, Odysseus and Prometheus, illustrate how history as a realm for human responsibility and future planning has established itself as a specific European construct, with the 18th century as its final breakthrough in practical and ideological terms. A close analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's drawing the Vitruvian Man, in statu nascendi, shows how the individual human being carrying the obligations and the promises of this history, is envisioned. The final remarks underline the importance of scientific knowledge in the concrete shaping of this responsibility and a plea for an increased cooperation across the disciplines.

THE PROBLEM OF THE FORMATION OF A PRISONER'S LIVING SPACE DURING THE EXECUTION OF A CRIMINAL SENTENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Dolgopolov K.A.
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Conditions ◽  
Living Space ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Correction System

The article deals with the issue related to the problems that arise in the process of execution of a court-imposed sentence in the form of deprivation of liberty.The object of the study is the process of serving a criminal sentence related to deprivation of liberty.The subject is the socio-psychological conditions in which a prisoner is forced to serve a sentence, and which directly affect the result of the impact of the correction system on him.An individual is subjected to correctional measures by the penitentiary system while serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty. However, statistics on recidivism show that this effect is often not effective.The conclusion is made that, when an individual enters a prison, he finds himself in conditions where his living space is formed with minimal participation of the individual himself; the factors under the influence of which this space is formed lead to opposition of prisoners to the system of execution of punishment as a whole.The article considers these factors, the specifics of their influence on the formation of the living space of the prisoner as the reasons that lead to the opposition of prisoners to the system of execution of punishment, and reduce its effectiveness.A number of proposals are being made to change the work with prisoners in the Russian penitentiary system, which will make the process of correction and re-education more effective.

scholarly journals In the Absence of the Rule of Law: Everyday Lawyering, Dignity and Resistance in Myanmar’s ‘Disciplined Democracy’

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 573-599
Author(s):  
Alex Batesmith ◽  
Jake Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
State Power ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Material Support ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Alternative Perspective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

This article explores how ‘everyday’ lawyers undertaking routine criminal defence cases navigate an authoritarian legal system. Based on original fieldwork in the ‘disciplined democracy’ of Myanmar, the article examines how hegemonic state power and a functional absence of the rule of law have created a culture of passivity among ordinary practitioners. ‘Everyday’ lawyers are nevertheless able to uphold their clients’ dignity by practical and material support for the individual human experience – and in so doing, subtly resist, evade or disrupt state power. The article draws upon the literature on the sociology of lawyering and resistance, arguing for a multilayered understanding of dignity going beyond lawyers’ contributions to their clients’ legal autonomy. Focusing on dignity provides an alternative perspective to the otherwise often all-consuming rule of law discourse. In authoritarian legal systems, enhancing their clients’ dignity beyond legal autonomy may be the only meaningful contribution that ‘everyday’ lawyers can make.

scholarly journals Spatial and Temporal Organization of the Individual Human Cerebellum

Neuron ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 977-993.e7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Marek ◽  
Joshua S. Siegel ◽  
Evan M. Gordon ◽  
Ryan V. Raut ◽  
Caterina Gratton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Organization ◽  
Human Cerebellum ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Human

Herbert Mac Cabe’s Philosophical Anthropology

Politeia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-260
Author(s):  
Franco Manni ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
External World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Language System ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Individual Human

From the ideas of Aristotle, De Saussure and Wittgenstein, philosopher Herbert McCabe elaborated an original anthropology. 'Meaning' means: the role played by a part towards the whole. Senses are bodily organs and sensations allow an animal to get fragments of the external world which become 'meaningful' for the behaviour of the whole animal Besides sensations, humans are ‘linguistic animals’ because through words they are able to 'communicate', that is, to share a peculiar kind of meanings: concepts. Whereas, sense-images are stored physically in our brain and cannot be shared, even though we can relate to sense-images by words (speech coincides with thought). However, concepts do not belong to the individual human being qua individual, but to an interpersonal entity: the language system. Therefore, on the one hand, to store images is a sense-power and an operation of the brain, whereas the brain (quite paradoxically!) is not in itself the organ of thought. On the other hand, concepts do not exist on their own.

The Inactivation by Carbenoxolone of Individual Human Pepsinogens and Pepsins

1973 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. B. Roberts ◽  
W. H. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Inhibitor ◽  
Effective Concentration ◽  
Peptic Activity ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Mucosal Cells ◽  
Gastric Lumen ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Active Centres ◽  
Individual Human

1. Carbenoxolone, in suspension at pH 4·0, inhibits swine pepsin A, and human pepsins 1, 3 and 5. Human pepsin 5 is the most readily inhibited, and human pepsin 1 the least. 2. Inhibition occurs by a process which is time-dependent, temperature-dependent and proportional to the quantity of carbenoxolone suspended. 3. Carbenoxolone, in solution at pH 7·4 and pH 8·0, inhibits the activation of the total pepsinogens of human gastric mucosal extracts and of the individual pepsinogens 1, 3 and 5. Pepsinogen 1 was the most readily inhibited, pepsinogen 5 the least. 4. Chymotrypsin was readily inhibited by carbenoxolone at pH 7·4 and 8·0. Trypsin was not inhibited at pH 7·4 but was inhibited, relatively weakly, at pH 8·0. Pronase was weakly inhibited at pH 7·4 and 8·0 but papain was weakly activated. 5. Carbenoxolone is therefore not a general enzyme inhibitor but shows specificity for enzymes (pepsins and chymotrypsin) which split proteins at the same bonds, rather than for enzymes with similar active centres (chymotrypsin and trypsin). 6. The results suggest that, in vivo, carbenoxolone might diminish peptic activity in three ways: by inactivating pepsinogens irreversibly in the mucosal cells or at some point before their activation to pepsins; by inhibiting pepsins irreversibly in the gastric lumen; and by binding pepsins in the lumen without destroying their activity but decreasing their effective concentration. 7. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that pepsins, and pepsin 1 particularly, are factors in the aetiology of peptic ulcer.

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