Seneca Says we Should Despise Pleasure

 Today we read a little more about what Seneca calls "the good life". He says, "We may choose to define it by calling that man happy who knows good and bad only in the form of good or bad minds: who worships honor, and is satisfied with his own virtue, who is neither puffed up by good fortune nor cast down by evil fortune, who knows no other good than that which he is able to bestow upon himself, whose real pleasure lies in despising pleasures."

Let's take this apart a little. Good vs bad in his mind means good minds vs bad minds. Good thinking vs bad thinking, in other words. Worshiping honor is a great good, he says, which brings the virtues of ancient Japan to mind, where men would commit seppuku rather than bring dishonor on their family. The good man, says Seneca, is satisfied with his own virtue, which I hope he elaborates on later because this doesn't sound like a good thing to me. The next part is pure Stoicism: he isn't bothered by good fortune or bad. The only good he acknowledges is that he brings to his own life - which I think he's distinguishing against finding joy or goodness in things that can be taken away. 

And finally: our real pleasure is in despising pleasures. This stands ostensibly against epicureanism, which held pleasures as the highest good. I'll discuss that later, especially how this didn't mean licentious hedonism. But Seneca here is saying that we hold pleasure as being something we need to keep in control, and "despise" which was used in ancient times not to mean "hate" like we mean today, but to mean "not let control" or "be subservient to", like when Jesus told us (during the same part of history) to despise our father and mother and even our own lives. This didn't mean to hate our parents or ourselves, but to make our relationships with them subservient to something greater. And Seneca would say our pleasures should be subservient to reason.

What do you think? Is the American "pursuit of happiness" able to coexist with a philosophy that our greatest pleasure is in despising pleasure?

See you tomorrow!