Philosophical hedonists think that in the final analysis, the good is nothing but what we desire, and the only thing we actually desire is pleasure. Did you think you desired love, knowledge, meaning, friendship, or friendship with God? No, you only desire the pleasure of those things.
Most of my students find this argument irresistible.
After speaking of the duties between sovereign and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger, and friend and friend, Confucius writes gracefully, “Some are born with the knowledge of those duties; some know them by study; and some acquire the knowledge after a painful feeling of their ignorance.”
Everyone has a conscience.
But most psychologists think that people with “antisocial personality disorder” don’t.
A recent panel of the daily comic strip The Lockhorns depicts the wife saying to the husband, with a knowing smile, “Of course I understand you, Leroy – what would you like to know?”
The natural restorative faculties are double-edged swords. Although their natural tendency is to fight illness and infection, they can also bring about new harm. Excessive fever and inflammation may cause organ damage and death.
I wrote this little fable in the style of the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress some years ago to dispel the oppression incident to the writing of a book review.
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So it went for years: Every summertime when school was out, almost every day, the little girl ran down the hill to see my wife. She taught the child how to bake and sweep a floor, showed her how to say grace before a meal, encouraged her to read and work hard at school, gave her snacks when she helped with the chores, and sat in the wicker chair and talked with her.