Pleasure or Pain?—Part 2

To return to Bentham's insistence that it is our very nature to seek pleasure (happiness) and avoid pain, it is interesting that he reached his conclusion over half a century before Darwin had the insight that evolution was the cause of our innate drives. While Bentham grasped the fact that this behavior for all creatures was “natural,” Darwin described for us how it came to be. That is, those critters who were good at finding pleasure and avoiding pain were more likely to survive, because their lives were more robust and fit, and they succeeded in passing on this capability to their offspring. In contrast, animals who did not succeed were more likely to perish—if only because their quality of life was poor—and not have offspring.

One of the challenges of those who subscribe to Bentham's ideas of utilitarianism is to know when we've acquired enough pleasure or happiness. Can we control ourselves, so that life does not become one extended obsession of seeking pleasure? Humans have not been very good at reining in their greed. In fact, too many of those who get a taste of pleasure go overboard with it. A prime example is today's ultra-rich who seize all they can get and create overwhelming economic inequality. Bentham and others saw that it must be the job of government to check inequality and ensure justice for the populace. It's not working very well in the US, today, however, largely due to the fact that the super rich pretty much control government through their corporate power.

On the other side of the coin, we can ask: Should we go to extremes to avoid pain? Is all pain bad? It may be natural for us to shun pain, but are there occasions when we might need to face it? Unlike animals, our cognitive abilities can help us examine the need to avoid pain all the time, and do something about it. Doesn't it make sense to visit the dentist and endure the discomforting prick of the novocaine needle and have a cavity filled, so I won't have to endure much greater pain later, when the tooth becomes abscessed? As another example, I attribute a good deal of the enduring relationship I have with my wife to the discomfort we endured during several conflict resolution sessions we have had over the years. It was downright painful to have to admit a few times that I was wrong in something I did or said.

Volumes of philosophical tomes and many psychological studies have pondered the struggle to balance pleasure and pain. Like most issues of philosophy, there never is a clear and final truth to be discovered. Life is too complex for that.

Maybe the best we can do is to make ourselves as aware of the inherent nature of pleasure and pain as we can, and then move through life, constantly seeking the appropriate balance at each step along the way. Seek happiness, but don't go overboard with it. Control yourself. Similarly, the avoidance of pain is natural, but it seems to me that it's more a case of taking a close look and having the courage to face pain when it makes sense to—especially when it brings the opportunity to learn. It doesn't make sense, however, to invite unnecessary pain into our lives. That just causes damage.