in the highest degree by those who have an ardour of curiosity, which carries the mind temporarily away from self and its sensations. In all kinds of Art, again, the exercise of the creative faculty is attended by intense and exquisite pleasures; but in order to get them, one must forget them."[1]
On the whole, this maxim is true; but we should remember that, while it is never right to seek pleasure solely for itself, there are times when it may be right to seek pleasure. When I go on holiday, for instance, it is not only right, but it may be a duty, to seek pleasure. In such a case it is right for me to seek pleasure, because enjoyment and relaxation will help to make me more fit to take up the duties of my vocation again after my holiday. The "pleasure-seeker," on the other hand, seeks pleasure for itself, and lives for it and for nothing else. It is because he lives for the sake of pleasure that he is wrong in seeking it. All pleasure is relative to the self, and derives its moral value from its relation to the self and its dominant purposes.
- ↑ Methods of Ethics, bk. i. oh. iv. p. 47.
For further reading: J. S. Mackenzie: Manual, bk. ii. ch. iv.; J. H. Muirhead: Elements of Ethics, bk. iii. ch. i. and iii.; J. Dewey and J. H. Tufts: Ethics, ch. xiv.; J. Seth: Study of Ethical Principles, part i. ch. i. and iii.; J. Watson: Hedonistic Theories from Aristippus to Spencer; J. S. Mill: Utilitarianism, ch. i.-iv.
