第30章

Itdoesnotseemthatanadequateexplanationcanbefoundintheoperationofhabit。Itisnodoubttruethatactionsthroughfrequentuniformrepetitiontendtobecomeautomaticandlosetheirconsciouscounterparts，andhedonicindifferencecertainlyseemsinsomecasestobeastagethroughwhichsuchactionspassonthewaytounconsciousness。Thusevenabusinesswalkinastrangetownisnormallypleasantthroughthenoveltyofthesights:butasimilarwalkinthetownwhereonelivesisordinarilyindifferent，ornearlyso；whileifone’sattentionisstronglyabsorbedbythebusiness，itmaybeperformedtoagreatextentunconsciously。Ontheotherhand，theoperationsofhabitoftenhavetheoppositeeffectofmakingactivitiespleasantwhichwereatfirstindifferentorevendisagreeable:asinthecaseofacquiredtastes，physicalorintellectual。Indeedsuchexperienceshavelongbeen——Ithink，quitelegitimately——usedbymoralistsasanencouragementtoirksomeduties，onthegroundthattheirirksomenesswillbetransient，throughtheoperationofhabit，whilethegainoftheirperformancewillbepermanent。Mr。Spencer，indeed，regardssuchexperiencesassoimportantthatheventurestobaseonthemthepredictionthat``pleasurewilleventuallyaccompanyeverymodeofactiondemandedbysocialconditions’’。This，however，seemsundulyoptimistic，inviewnotonlyofthefirst-mentionedtendencyofhabittohedonicindifference，butalsoofathirdtendencytorenderactions，atfirstindifferentorevenpleasant，graduallymoreirksome。Thusourintellectgraduallyweariesofmonotonousactivities，andtheennuimaysometimesbecomeintense:soagaintherelishofakindofdietatfirstagreeablemayturnthroughmonotonyintodisgust。

Somequitedifferentexplanationmustthereforebesoughtforthevaryingdegreesinwhichpleasureaccompaniesnormalactivities。CanwefindthisinasuggestionofMr。Spencer’s，developedbyMr。GrantAllen，thatthepleasurablenessofnormalorganicactivitiesdependsontheirintermittence，andthat``theamountofpleasureisprobably？intheinverseratioofthenaturalfrequencyofexcitation’’

ofthenerve-fibresinvolved？Thistheorycertainlyfindssomesupportinthefactthatthesensualpleasuresgenerallyrecognisedasgreatestarethoseattendingtheactivitiesoforganswhicharenormallyleftunexercisedforconsiderableintervals。Still，therearemanyfactsthatitdoesnotexplain——e。g。thegreatdifferencesinthepleasuresobtainableatanygiventimebydifferentstimulationsofthesamesense；thephenomenonexpressedintheproverbialphrase``L’appé；titvientenmangeant’’；

andthefactthattheexerciseofthevisualorgansafterapparentlydreamlesssleepdoesnotgiveappreciablykeenerpleasurethanitdoesatordinarytimes。Itwouldseemthatwemustseekforsomespecialcauseofthepleasurableeffectofintermittenceincertaincases。Andthiscannotbemerelythegreaterintensityofthenervousactionthattakesplacewhenlongunexercisedandwell-nourishednerve-centresarestimulated:forwhy，ifthatweretheexplanation，shouldthenormalconsciousnessoffullnervousactivity，graduallyattained——aswhenweareinfullswingofenergeticunweariedworkofaroutinekind——beoftennearlyorquiteindifferent？

Amongthevariouscompetinghypothesesofferedatthispointofourinquiry——nooneofwhich，Ibelieve，hasattainedanythinglikegeneralacceptanceascoveringthewholeground——Iselectfordiscussiononethathasspecialethicalinterest。

Accordingtothishypothesis，theorganicprocessaccompaniedbypleasureistobeconceivedasa``restorationofequilibrium’’after``disturbance’’:sothattheabsenceofappreciablepleasureinthecaseofcertainnormalactivitiesisexplainedbytheabsenceofantecedentdisturbance。Thisviewisobviouslyapplicabletocertainclassesofpleasureswhich，thoughbynomeansrareareincidentalinanormallife:——thepleasureofreliefafterphysicalpain，orafterthestrainofgreatanxiety，andthepleasureofreposeafterunusualexertions，intellectualormuscular。Butwhenweattempttoapplyittosensationalpleasuresgenerally，theindefinitenessofthenotionof``equilibrium’’，asappliedtotheprocessesofalivingorganism，becomesmanifest。Forourphysicallifeconsistsofaseriesofchanges，forthemostpartperiodicallyrecurrentwithslightmodificationaftershortintervals:anditisdifficulttoseewhyweshouldattachtheideaof``disturbance’’or``restorationofequilibrium’’toanyoneamongthesenormalprocessesratherthananother:e。g。itisdiff