Summary and Analysis
Book X:
Chapter I - The Importance of Pleasure
Summary
Love of pleasure is one of the most fundamental human instincts. Since the essential feature of good moral character is liking and disliking the right things, pleasure and pain are important tools in education. Pleasure and pain continue to act on a man throughout his life and can have a decisive influence on whether or not he achieves happiness and the good.
There are two schools of thought in regard to pleasure — that it is the supreme good and that it is absolutely bad. Neither view is correct, for reasons that will be shown below.