Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- An Aesthetic Prelude
- 1 The Problem of Tragedy
- 2 The Dubious Ubiquity of Practical Reason
- 3 Nihilism
- 4 Pessimism
- 5 Monism: An Epitaph
- 6 Moralism and the Inconstancy of Value
- 7 Moralism and the Impurity of Value
- 8 Best Life Pluralism and Reason's Regret
- 9 Tragic Pluralism and Reason's Grief
- 10 Postscript on the Future: The Idea of Progress and the Avoidance of Despair
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Monism: An Epitaph
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- An Aesthetic Prelude
- 1 The Problem of Tragedy
- 2 The Dubious Ubiquity of Practical Reason
- 3 Nihilism
- 4 Pessimism
- 5 Monism: An Epitaph
- 6 Moralism and the Inconstancy of Value
- 7 Moralism and the Impurity of Value
- 8 Best Life Pluralism and Reason's Regret
- 9 Tragic Pluralism and Reason's Grief
- 10 Postscript on the Future: The Idea of Progress and the Avoidance of Despair
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
So there is no need for things which involve struggle.
Epicurus, from The Principle Doctrines by Diogenes LaertiusNature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it. In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while.
Jeremy Bentham, The Principles of Morals and LegislationIt is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
John Stuart Mill, UtilitarianismSome things die hard. Rasputin and his zeal, a parent's love for a child, bigotry, first loves, addictions, and simple-minded solutions to complex problems – all come to mind. Others die easily enough but decay slowly, spoiling the environment in which they reluctantly dissolve. Rotting human corpses piled high at the gates of medieval cities during the bubonic plague are vivid examples. Ideas that have outlived their time are like both: they die hard yet linger like the animus of an old feud.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Reason's GriefAn Essay on Tragedy and Value, pp. 110 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006