Single Idea 4550

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / a. Nature of pleasure]

Full Idea

Brave and creative men never consider pleasure and pain as ultimate values - they are epiphenomena: one must desire both if one is to achieve anything.

Gist of Idea

Pleasure and pain are mere epiphenomena, and achievement requires that one desire both

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §579)

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Will to Power', ed/tr. Kaufmann,W /Hollingdate,R [Vintage 1968], p.311


A Reaction

I am struggling with the notion that I must desire pain if I am ambitious, but to label these feeling 'epiphenomena' is challenging and plausible. I certainly deny that they have intrinsic value, which is a matter of judgement, not feeling.