Pleasure

Page semi-protected
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Pleasure (disambiguation).
"Pleasant" redirects here. For other uses, see Pleasant (disambiguation).
Part of a series on
Emotions
Emotions

Pleasure is experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something.[1][2] It contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad.[3] It is closely related to value, desire and action:[4] humans and other conscious animals find pleasure enjoyable, positive or worthy of seeking. A great variety of activities may be experienced as pleasurable, like eating, having sex, listening to music or playing games. Pleasure is part of various other mental states such as ecstasy, euphoria and flow. Happiness and well-being are closely related to pleasure but not identical with it.[5][6] There is no general agreement as to whether pleasure should be understood as a sensation, a quality of experiences, an attitude to experiences or otherwise.[7] Pleasure plays a central role in the family of philosophical theories known as hedonism.

Overview

"Pleasure" refers to experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something.

Utilitarian calculus.[7]

The concept of pleasure is similar but not identical to the concepts of well-being and of happiness.[5][8][6] These terms are used in overlapping ways, but their meanings tend to come apart in technical contexts like philosophy or psychology. Pleasure refers to a certain type of experience while well-being is about what is good for a person.[9][6] Many philosophers agree that pleasure is good for a person and therefore is a form of well-being.[10][6] But there may be other things besides or instead of pleasure that constitute well-being, like health, virtue, knowledge or the fulfillment of desires.[9] On some conceptions, happiness is identified with "the individual's balance of pleasant over unpleasant experience".[11] Life satisfaction theories, on the other hand, hold that happiness involves having the right attitude towards one's life as a whole. Pleasure may have a role to play in this attitude, but it is not identical to happiness.[11]

Pleasure is closely related to value, desire, motivation and right action.

Freud's pleasure principle ties pleasure to motivation and action by holding that there is a strong psychological tendency to seek pleasure and to avoid pain.[2] Classical utilitarianism connects pleasure to ethics in stating that whether an action is right depends on the pleasure it produces: it should maximize the sum-total of pleasure.[14]

Sources and types of pleasure

Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as

dancing, and literature is often pleasurable.[15] Pleasure is sometimes subdivided into fundamental pleasures that are closely related to survival (food, sex, and social belonging) and higher-order pleasures (e.g., viewing art and altruism).[16] Bentham listed 14 kinds of pleasure; sense, wealth, skill, amity, a good name, power, piety, benevolence, malevolence, memory, imagination, expectation, pleasures dependent on association, and the pleasures of relief.[17] Some commentators see 'complex pleasures' including wit and sudden realisation,[18] and some see a wide range of pleasurable feelings.[19]

Theories of pleasure

Pleasure comes in various forms, for example, in the enjoyment of food, sex, sports, seeing a beautiful

traditional approaches.[7][1]

Quality theories

In everyday language, the term "pleasure" is primarily associated with sensory pleasures like the enjoyment of food or sex.[7] One traditionally important quality-theory closely follows this association by holding that pleasure is a sensation. On the simplest version of the sensation theory, whenever we experience pleasure there is a distinctive pleasure-sensation present.[7][3] So a pleasurable experience of eating chocolate involves a sensation of the taste of chocolate together with a pleasure-sensation. An obvious shortcoming of this theory is that many impressions may be present at the same time.[7] For example, there may be an itching sensation as well while eating the chocolate. But this account cannot explain why the enjoyment is linked to the taste of the chocolate and not to the itch.[7] Another problem is due to the fact that sensations are usually thought of as localized somewhere in the body. But considering the pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunset, there seems to be no specific region in the body at which we experience this pleasure.[7][22]

These problems can be avoided by felt-quality-theories, which see pleasure not as a sensation but as an aspect qualifying sensations or other mental phenomena.[7][1][23] As an aspect, pleasure is dependent on the mental phenomenon it qualifies, it cannot be present on its own.[7] Since the link to the enjoyed phenomenon is already built into the pleasure, it solves the problem faced by sensation theories to explain how this link comes about.[7] It also captures the intuition that pleasure is usually pleasure of something: enjoyment of drinking a milkshake or of playing chess but not just pure or object-less enjoyment. According to this approach, pleasurable experiences differ in content (drinking a milkshake, playing chess) but agree in feeling or hedonic tone. Pleasure can be localized, but only to the extent that the impression it qualifies is localized.[7]

One objection to both the sensation theory and the felt-quality theory is that there is no one quality shared by all pleasure-experiences.[20][1][23] The force of this objection comes from the intuition that the variety of pleasure-experiences is just too wide to point out one quality shared by all, for example, the quality shared by enjoying a milkshake and enjoying a chess game. One way for quality theorists to respond to this objection is by pointing out that the hedonic tone of pleasure-experiences is not a regular quality but a higher-order quality.[7][1] As an analogy, a vividly green thing and a vividly red thing do not share a regular color property but they share "vividness" as a higher-order property.[1]

Attitude theories

Attitude theories propose to analyze pleasure in terms of attitudes to experiences.[23][3] So to enjoy the taste of chocolate it is not sufficient to have the corresponding experience of the taste. Instead, the subject has to have the right attitude to this taste for pleasure to arise.[7] This approach captures the intuition that a second person may have exactly the same taste-experience but not enjoy it since the relevant attitude is lacking. Various attitudes have been proposed for the type of attitude responsible for pleasure, but historically the most influential version assigns this role to desires.[1] On this account, pleasure is linked to experiences that fulfill a desire had by the experiencer.[7][1] So the difference between the first and the second person in the example above is that only the first person has a corresponding desire directed at the taste of chocolate.

One important argument against this version is that while it is often the case that we desire something first and then enjoy it, this cannot always be the case. In fact, often the opposite seems to be true: we have to learn first that something is enjoyable before we start to desire it.[7][1] This objection can be partially avoided by holding that it does not matter whether the desire was there before the experience but that it only matters what we desire while the experience is happening. This variant, originally held by Henry Sidgwick, has recently been defended by Chris Heathwood, who holds that an experience is pleasurable if the subject of the experience wants the experience to occur for its own sake while it is occurring.[24][20] But this version faces a related problem akin to the Euthyphro dilemma: it seems that we usually desire things because they are enjoyable, not the other way round.[23][3] So desire theories would be mistaken about the direction of explanation. Another argument against desire theories is that desire and pleasure can come apart: we can have a desire for things that are not enjoyable and we can enjoy things without desiring to do so.[7][1]

Dispositional theories

Dispositional theories try to account for pleasure in terms of

dispositions, often by including insights from both the quality theories and the attitude theories. One way to combine these elements is to hold that pleasure consists in being disposed to desire an experience in virtue of the qualities of this experience.[3][7][1] Some of the problems of the regular desire theory can be avoided this way since the disposition does not need to be realized for there to be pleasure, thereby taking into account that desire and pleasure can come apart.[7][1]

Philosophy

Part of a series on
Hedonism
Thinkers
Schools of hedonism
Key concepts
Related articles
Main article: Hedonism

Pleasure plays a central role in theories from various areas of philosophy. Such theories are usually grouped together under the label "hedonism".

Ethics

Pleasure is related not just to how we actually act, but also to how we ought to act, which belongs to the field of

Ethical hedonism takes the strongest position on this relation in stating that considerations of increasing pleasure and decreasing pain fully determine what we should do or which action is right.[10] Ethical hedonist theories can be classified in relation to whose pleasure should be increased. According to the egoist version, each agent should only aim at maximizing her own pleasure. This position is usually not held in very high esteem.[25][10] Utilitarianism, on the other hand, is a family of altruist theories that are more respectable in the philosophical community. Within this family, classical utilitarianism draws the closest connection between pleasure and right action by holding that the agent should maximize the sum-total of everyone's happiness.[26][10]
This sum-total includes the agent's pleasure as well, but only as one factor among many.

Value

Pleasure is intimately connected to

axiological hedonism, it is the only thing that has intrinsic value or is good in itself.[27] This position entails that things other than pleasure, like knowledge, virtue or money, only have instrumental value: they are valuable because or to the extent that they produce pleasure but lack value otherwise.[10] Within the scope of axiological hedonism, there are two competing theories about the exact relation between pleasure and value: quantitative hedonism and qualitative hedonism.[28][10] Quantitative hedonists, following Jeremy Bentham, hold that the specific content or quality of a pleasure-experience is not relevant to its value, which only depends on its quantitative features: intensity and duration.[28][29] On this account, an experience of intense pleasure of indulging in food and sex is worth more than an experience of subtle pleasure of looking at fine art or of engaging in a stimulating intellectual conversation. Qualitative hedonists, following John Stuart Mill, object to this version on the grounds that it threatens to turn axiological hedonism into a "philosophy of swine".[10] Instead, they argue that the quality is another factor relevant to the value of a pleasure-experience, for example, that the lower pleasures of the body are less valuable than the higher pleasures of the mind.[30]

Beauty

A very common element in many conceptions of beauty is its relation to pleasure.[31][32] Aesthetic hedonism makes this relation part of the definition of beauty by holding that there is a necessary connection between pleasure and beauty, e.g. that for an object to be beautiful is for it to cause pleasure or that the experience of beauty is always accompanied by pleasure.[33][34][35] The pleasure due to beauty does not need to be pure, i.e. exclude all unpleasant elements.[36] Instead, beauty can involve mixed pleasure, for example, in the case of a beautifully tragic story.[31] We take pleasure from many things that are not beautiful, which is why beauty is usually defined in terms of a special type of pleasure: aesthetic or disinterested pleasure.[37][38][39] A pleasure is disinterested if it is indifferent to the existence of the beautiful object.[40][31] For example, the joy of looking at a beautiful landscape would still be valuable if it turned out that this experience was an illusion, which would not be true if this joy was due to seeing the landscape as a valuable real estate opportunity.[37] Opponents of aesthetic hedonism have pointed out that despite commonly occurring together, there are cases of beauty without pleasure.[33] For example, a cold jaded critic may still be a good judge of beauty due to her years of experience but lack the joy that initially accompanied her work.[31] A further question for hedonists is how to explain the relation between beauty and pleasure. This problem is akin to the Euthyphro dilemma: is something beautiful because we enjoy it or do we enjoy it because it is beautiful?[32] Identity theorists solve this problem by denying that there is a difference between beauty and pleasure: they identify beauty, or the appearance of it, with the experience of aesthetic pleasure.[31]

History

Hellenistic philosophy

The ancient

chief good and pain the chief evil.[43] The Pyrrhonist philosopher Aenesidemus claimed that following Pyrrhonism's prescriptions for philosophical skepticism produced pleasure.[44]

Medieval philosophy

In the 12th century, Razi's Treatise of the Self and the Spirit (Kitab al Nafs Wa’l Ruh) analyzed different types of pleasure- sensuous and intellectual, and explained their relations with one another. He concludes that human needs and desires are endless, and "their satisfaction is by definition impossible."[45]

Schopenhauer

The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer understood pleasure as a negative sensation, one that negates the usual existential condition of suffering.[46]

Psychology

Pleasure is often regarded as a bipolar construct, meaning that the two ends of the spectrum from pleasure to suffering are mutually exclusive. That is part of the circumplex model of affect.[47] Yet, some lines of research suggest that people do experience pleasure and suffering at the same time, giving rise to so-called mixed feelings.[48][49][50] Pleasure is considered one of the core dimensions of emotion. It can be described as the positive evaluation that forms the basis for several more elaborate evaluations such as "agreeable" or "nice". As such, pleasure is an affect and not an emotion, as it forms one component of several different emotions.[51] The clinical condition of being unable to experience pleasure from usually enjoyable activities is called anhedonia. An active aversion to obtaining pleasure is called hedonophobia.

Pleasure and belief

The degree to which something or someone is experienced as pleasurable not only depends on its objective attributes (appearance, sound, taste, texture, etc.), but on beliefs about its history, about the circumstances of its creation, about its rarity, fame, or price, and on other non-intrinsic attributes, such as the social status or identity it conveys. For example, a sweater that has been worn by a celebrity is more desired than an otherwise identical sweater that has not, though considerably less so if it has been washed.[52]

Motivation and behavior

Pleasure-seeking behavior is a common phenomenon and may indeed dominate our conduct at times. The thesis of

psychological hedonism generalizes this insight by holding that all our actions aim at increasing pleasure and avoiding pain.[53][13] This is usually understood in combination with egoism, i.e. that each person only aims at her own happiness.[12] Our actions rely on beliefs about what causes pleasure. False beliefs may mislead us and thus our actions may fail to result in pleasure, but even failed actions are motivated by considerations of pleasure, according to psychological hedonism.[28] The paradox of hedonism states that pleasure-seeking behavior commonly fails also in another way. It asserts that being motivated by pleasure is self-defeating in the sense that it leads to less actual pleasure than following other motives.[28][54]

Sigmund Freud formulated his pleasure principle in order to account for the effect pleasure has on our behavior. It states that there is a strong, inborn tendency of our mental life to seek immediate gratification whenever an opportunity presents itself.[2] This tendency is opposed by the reality principle, which constitutes a learned capacity to delay immediate gratification in order to take the real consequences of our actions into account.[55][56] Freud also described the pleasure principle as a positive feedback mechanism that motivates the organism to recreate the situation it has just found pleasurable, and to avoid past situations that caused pain.[57]

Cognitive biases

A cognitive bias is a systematic tendency of thinking and judging in a way that deviates from a normative criterion, especially from the demands of rationality.[58] Cognitive biases in regard to pleasure include the peak–end rule, the focusing illusion, the nearness bias and the future bias.

The peak–end rule affects how we remember the pleasantness or unpleasantness of experiences. It states that our overall impression of past events is determined for the most part not by the total pleasure and suffering it contained but by how it felt at its peaks and at its end.[59] For example, the memory of a painful colonoscopy is improved if the examination is extended by three minutes in which the scope is still inside but not moved anymore, resulting in a moderately uncomfortable sensation. This extended colonoscopy, despite involving more pain overall, is remembered less negatively due to the reduced pain at the end. This even increases the likelihood for the patient to return for subsequent procedures.[60] Daniel Kahneman explains this distortion in terms of the difference between two selves: the experiencing self, which is aware of pleasure and pain as they are happening, and the remembering self, which shows the aggregate pleasure and pain over an extended period of time. The distortions due to the peak–end rule happen on the level of the remembering self. Our tendency to rely on the remembering self can often lead us to pursue courses of action that are not in our best self-interest.[61][62]

A closely related bias is the focusing illusion. The "illusion" occurs when people consider the impact of one specific factor on their overall happiness. They tend to greatly exaggerate the importance of that factor, while overlooking the numerous other factors that would in most cases have a greater impact.[63]

The nearness bias and the future bias are two different forms of violating the principle of temporal neutrality. This principle states that the temporal location of a benefit or a harm is not important for its normative significance: a rational agent should care to the same extent about all parts of their life.[64][65] The nearness bias, also discussed under the labels "present bias" or "temporal discounting", refers to our tendency to violate temporal neutrality in regards to temporal distance from the present. On the positive side, we prefer pleasurable experiences to be near rather than distant. On the negative side, we prefer painful experiences to be distant rather than near.[66][67][64] The future bias refers to our tendency to violate temporal neutrality in regards to the direction of time. On the positive side, we prefer pleasurable experiences to be in the future rather than in the past. On the negative side, we prefer painful experiences to be in the past rather than in the future.[66][67]

Reward system

See also: Affective neuroscience

Pleasure centers

This section is an excerpt from Reward system § Pleasure centers.[edit]

Pleasure is a component of reward, but not all rewards are pleasurable (e.g., money does not elicit pleasure unless this response is conditioned).

learned association with an intrinsic reward.[68] In other words, extrinsic rewards function as motivational magnets that elicit "wanting", but not "liking" reactions once they have been acquired.[68]

The reward system contains

endocannabinoids, and orexin are capable of enhancing liking reactions in these hotspots.[69] The hedonic hotspots located in the anterior OFC and posterior insula have been demonstrated to respond to orexin and opioids in rats, as has the overlapping hedonic coldspot in the anterior insula and posterior OFC.[71] On the other hand, the parabrachial nucleus hotspot has only been demonstrated to respond to benzodiazepine receptor agonists.[69]

Hedonic hotspots are functionally linked, in that activation of one hotspot results in the recruitment of the others, as indexed by the
c-Fos, an immediate early gene. Furthermore, inhibition of one hotspot results in the blunting of the effects of activating another hotspot.[69][71] Therefore, the simultaneous activation of every hedonic hotspot within the reward system is believed to be necessary for generating the sensation of an intense euphoria.[72]

Motivation

While all pleasurable stimuli can be seen as rewards, some rewards do not evoke pleasure.

consummatory behavior[15] – an intrinsic reward has two components: a "wanting" or desire component that is reflected in approach behavior, and a "liking" or pleasure component that is reflected in consummatory behavior.[15] Some research indicates that similar mesocorticolimbic circuitry is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency.[73] Some commentators opine that our current understanding of how pleasure happens within us remains poor,[74][75] but that scientific advance gives optimism for future progress.[76]

Animal pleasure

See also: Reward system § Animals vs humans, and Animal sexual behaviour § Sex for pleasure

In the past, there has been debate as to whether pleasure is experienced by other animals rather than being an exclusive property of humankind; however, it is now known that animals do experience pleasure, as measured by objective behavioral and neural hedonic responses to pleasurable stimuli.[73]

See also

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 219440957
    .
  2. ^ a b c d Lopez, Shane J. (2009). "Pleasure". The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Katz, Leonard D. (2016). "Pleasure". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b Craig, Edward (1996). "Pleasure". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge.
  5. ^ a b Craig, Edward (1996). "Happiness". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge.
  6. ^ a b c d Crisp, Roger (2017). "Well-Being". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Borchert, Donald (2006). "Pleasure". Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd Edition. Macmillan.
  8. ^ Haybron, Dan (2020). "Happiness". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. ^ a b Tiberius, Valerie (2015). "Prudential value". The Oxford Handbook of Value Theory. Oxford University Press USA.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Weijers, Dan. "Hedonism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ^ a b Haybron, Dan (2020). "Happiness: 2.1 The chief candidates". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
  12. ^ a b "Psychological hedonism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  13. ^ a b Borchert, Donald (2006). "Hedonism". Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd Edition. Macmillan.
  14. ^ Driver, Julia (2014). "The History of Utilitarianism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
  15. ^
    PMID 26109341
    .
  16. ISBN 9780199717392
    .
  17. ^ Chapter V, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Bentham, 1789, http://fs2.american.edu/dfagel/www/Philosophers/Bentham/principlesofMoralsAndLegislation.pdf#page30 https://www.utilitarianism.com/jeremy-bentham/index.html
  18. ^ Complex Pleasure: Forms of Feeling in German Literature, Stanley Corngold, Stanford Press, 1998
  19. S2CID 170258796
    .
  20. ^
    S2CID 170819498
    .
  21. ^ Moore, Andrew (2019). "Hedonism: 2.1 Ethical Hedonism and the Nature of Pleasure". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  22. JSTOR 2022655
    .
  23. ^
    S2CID 170258796
    .
  24. S2CID 170419589
    .
  25. ^ Shaver, Robert (2019). "Egoism: 2. Ethical Egoism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  26. ^ Driver, Julia (2014). "The History of Utilitarianism: 2. The Classical Approach". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  27. ^ Haybron, Daniel M. (2008). The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being. Oxford University Press. p. 62.
  28. ^ a b c d Moore, Andrew (2019). "Hedonism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  29. ^ Sweet, William. "Jeremy Bentham: 4. Moral Philosophy". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  30. ^ Heydt, Colin. "John Stuart Mill: ii. Basic Argument". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  31. ^
    doi:10.1111/jaac.12636
    .
  32. ^ a b "Beauty and Ugliness". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  33. ^
    S2CID 204522523
    .
  34. S2CID 213973255
    .
  35. ^ Matthen, Mohan; Weinstein, Zachary. "Aesthetic Hedonism". Oxford Bibliographies. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  36. ^ Spicher, Michael R. "Aesthetic Taste". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  37. ^ a b Sartwell, Crispin (2017). "Beauty". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
  38. ^ "Aesthetics". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  39. ^ Levinson, Jerrold (2003). "Philosophical Aesthetics: An Overview". The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–24.
  40. ^ Craig, Edward (1996). "Beauty". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge.
  41. ^ The Forty Principal Doctrines, Number III.
  42. ^ Letter to Menoeceus Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine, Section 131-2.
  43. ^ About the Ends of Goods and Evils, Book I Archived 2013-12-09 at the Wayback Machine, From Section IX, Torquatus sets out his understanding of Epicurus's philosophy.
  44. Praeparatio Evangelica
     Chapter 18
  45. S2CID 38740431
    .
  46. ^ Counsels and Maxims , Chapter 1, General Rules Section 1.
  47. PMID 16262989
    .
  48. S2CID 144572285
    .
  49. S2CID 144217149
    .
  50. S2CID 403233
    .
  51. ^ Frijda, Nico F. (2010). "On the Nature and Function of Pleasure". In Kringelbach, Morten L.; Berridge, Kent C. (eds.). Pleasures of the Brain. Oxford University Press. p. 99.
  52. ^ Paul Bloom. How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like (2010) 280 pages. Draws on neuroscience, philosophy, child-development research, and behavioral economics in a study of our desires, attractions, and tastes.
  53. ^ Craig, Edward (1996). "Hedonism". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge.
  54. S2CID 171459875
    .
  55. ^ De Mijolla, Alain (2005). "pleasure/unpleasure principle". International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Macmillan Reference USA.
  56. ^ De Mijolla, Alain (2005). "reality principle". International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Macmillan Reference USA.
  57. ^ Freud, Siegmund (1950). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Liveright.
  58. ^ Litvak, P.; Lerner, J. S. (2009). "Cognitive Bias". The Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences. Oxford University Press.
  59. PMID 18605486
    .
  60. S2CID 206055276
    .
  61. ^ Kahneman, Daniel (2011). "35. Two Selves". Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
  62. ^ Lazari-Radek, Katarzyna de; Singer, Peter (2014). The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics. Oxford University Press. p. 276.
  63. S2CID 14091201
    .
  64. ^
    doi:10.1111/phpr.12496
    .
  65. ^ Brink, David O. (2011). "Prospects for Temporal Neutrality". The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time. Oxford University Press.
  66. ^
    S2CID 142294499
    .
  67. ^
    S2CID 230797064
    .
  68. ^
    PMID 26109341
    .
  69. ^
    PMID 25950633
    . In the prefrontal cortex, recent evidence indicates that the [orbitofrontal cortex] OFC and insula cortex may each contain their own additional hot spots (D.C. Castro et al., Soc. Neurosci., abstract). In specific subregions of each area, either opioid-stimulating or orexin-stimulating microinjections appear to enhance the number of liking reactions elicited by sweetness, similar to the [nucleus accumbens] NAc and [ventral pallidum] VP hot spots. Successful confirmation of hedonic hot spots in the OFC or insula would be important and possibly relevant to the orbitofrontal mid-anterior site mentioned earlier that especially tracks the subjective pleasure of foods in humans (Georgiadis et al., 2012; Kringelbach, 2005; Kringelbach et al., 2003; Small et al., 2001; Veldhuizen et al., 2010). Finally, in the brainstem, a hindbrain site near the parabrachial nucleus of dorsal pons also appears able to contribute to hedonic gains of function (Söderpalm and Berridge, 2000). A brainstem mechanism for pleasure may seem more surprising than forebrain hot spots to anyone who views the brainstem as merely reflexive, but the pontine parabrachial nucleus contributes to taste, pain, and many visceral sensations from the body and has also been suggested to play an important role in motivation (Wu et al., 2012) and in human emotion (especially related to the somatic marker hypothesis) (Damasio, 2010).
  70. PMID 23261404.
    Figure 3: Neural circuits underlying motivated 'wanting' and hedonic 'liking'.
  71. ^
    PMID 29073109
    . Here, we show that opioid or orexin stimulations in orbitofrontal cortex and insula causally enhance hedonic "liking" reactions to sweetness and find a third cortical site where the same neurochemical stimulations reduce positive hedonic impact.
  72. PMID 22844850. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017. So it makes sense that the real pleasure centers in the brain – those directly responsible for generating pleasurable sensations – turn out to lie within some of the structures previously identified as part of the reward circuit. One of these so-called hedonic hotspots lies in a subregion of the nucleus accumbens called the medial shell. A second is found within the ventral pallidum, a deep-seated structure near the base of the forebrain that receives most of its signals from the nucleus accumbens. ...
         On the other hand, intense euphoria is harder to come by than everyday pleasures. The reason may be that strong enhancement of pleasure – like the chemically induced pleasure bump we produced in lab animals – seems to require activation of the entire network at once. Defection of any single component dampens the high.
         Whether the pleasure circuit – and in particular, the ventral pallidum – works the same way in humans is unclear.
  73. ^
    PMID 25950633
    .
  74. ^ "How we and our hedonic experience are situated or constituted in our brains and organisms remains to be seen."Conclusion, Pleasure, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pleasure/
  75. PMID 30233347
    .
  76. ^ "prospects seem good for new and deep scientific understanding of pleasure and of how it is organized in the brain." Conclusion, Pleasure, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pleasure/

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pleasure.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pleasure&oldid=1206380087"