第29章

Letusbeginbyconsideringatheory，primarilypsychological，whichhasatleastthemeritofantiquity——asitisadmittedlyderivedfromAristotle，——andis，insomeformorother，stillcurrent。ItisthatexpressedbySirW。

Hamiltoninthefollowingpropositions:``Pleasureisthereflexofthespontaneousandunimpededexertionofapowerofwhoseenergyweareconscious:

pain，areflexoftheover-strainedorrepressedexertionofsuchapower。’’

Thephrasessuggestactiveasordinarilydistinguishedfrompassivestates；butHamiltonexplainsthat``energy’’andsimilarterms``aretobeunderstoodtodenoteindifferentlyalltheprocessesofourhigherandlowerlifeofwhichweareconscious’’，——onthegroundthatconsciousnessitselfimpliesmorethanamerepassivityofthesubject。Ithink，however，thatthetheoryisevidentlyframedprimarilytosuitthepleasuresandpainsthatbelongtotheintellectuallifeassuch，andisonlyappliedbyasomewhatviolentstrainingtoanimportantclassamongthepleasuresandpainsthatbelongtoman’sanimallife。ForHamiltonexplainshisterms(a)``spontaneous’’and(b)``unimpeded’’toimplyrespectively(a)absenceof``forciblerepression’’or``forciblestimulation’’ofthepowerexercised，and(b)absenceofchecksorhindrancesonthepartoftheobjectaboutwhichitisconversant。Butthesetermsseemtohavenoclearpsychicalimportinapplicationtoorganicsensationsofthekindordinarilycalledpassive。E。g。thefeelingsandvaguerepresentationsofbodilyprocesseswhichconstitutetheconsciousnessofatoothacheareasfreefromconsciousrepressionorstimulationasthosewhichconstitutetheconsciousnessthataccompaniesawarmbath:——exceptsofarasthemerepresenceofpainimpliesconstraint，sinceweexperienceitunwillingly，andthemerepresenceofpleasureimpliestheopposite:butinthissenseconstraintanditsoppositearecharacteristicsoftheeffectstobeexplained，andcannotthereforeberegardedastheircauses。

Indeed，theethicalinterestandvalueofthetheoryappearstometolieinitsveryone-sidedness。

Ittendstocorrectavulgarerrorintheestimateofpleasure，bydirectingattentionstronglytotheimportanceofaclassofpleasureswhichordinarypleasure-seekingprobablyundervalues，——thepleasuresthatspeciallybelongtoalifefilledwithstrenuousactivity，whetherpurelyintellectual，orpracticalandpartlyphysical。Inthesamewayiteffectivelydispelsthepopularinadvertenceofregardinglabourasnormallypainfulbecausesomelabourisso，andbecausethepleasuresconnectedwithrelieffromtoil——thepleasuresofreposeandplay——areintheexperienceofmostpersonsmorestrikingthanthepleasuresofstrenuousactivity。Atthesametime，evenifwelimitthetheorytothepleasuresandpainsimmediatelyconnectedwithvoluntaryactivity——intellectualorphysical——itseemstomedevoidnotonlyofdefiniteguidance，butalsoofadequatetheoreticalprecision。Foritseemstoimplythattheexerciseofourpowersisalwaysmadelesspleasantbythepresenceofimpediments；butthisisobviouslynottrueeitherofmainlyintellectualormainlyphysicalactivities。Someobstaclesundeniablyincreasepleasurebydrawingoutforceandskilltoovercomethem，asisclearlyshowninthecaseofgamesandsports:andevenifweunderstandpain-causingimpedimentstobeonlysuchhindrancesasrepressanddiminishaction，Idonotfindthatthetheoryissupportedbyexperience，exceptsofarastherepressioncausesthespecificdiscomfortofunsatisfieddesire。E。g。Ifindentertainmentratherthandiscomfortintryingtomakeoutobjectsinadimlight，orthemeaningofaspeechinastrangelanguage，providedthatfailuredoesnotinterferewiththeattainmentofanyendtowhichIattachimportance。ItisafundamentaldefectinHamilton’stheory，eveninitsmorelimitedapplication，thatitignorestheteleologicalcharacterofnormalhumanactivity。

Thisdefectisavoidedinamodificationofthetheorythatarecentwriterhasadopted。``Theantithesis’’，saysMr。Stout，``betweenpleasureandpainiscoincidentwiththeantithesisbetweenfreeandimpededprogresstowardsanend。Unimpededprogressispleasantinproportiontotheintensityandcomplexityofm