Editing Pleasure (section)

== Definition ==
"Pleasure" refers to experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something.<ref name="Pallies">{{cite journal |last1=Pallies |first1=Daniel |title=An Honest Look at Hybrid Theories of Pleasure |journal=Philosophical Studies |date=2021 |volume=178 |issue=3 |pages=887–907 |doi=10.1007/s11098-020-01464-5 |s2cid=219440957 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/PALAHL}}</ref><ref name="Lopez">{{cite book |last1=Lopez |first1=Shane J. |title=The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/LOPTEO-2 |chapter=Pleasure|year=2009 }}</ref> The term is primarily used in association with ''sensory pleasures'' like the [[sexual pleasure|enjoyment of sex]] or food.<ref name="Borchert">{{cite book |last1=Borchert |first1=Donald |title=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd Edition |date=2006 |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BORMEO |chapter=Pleasure}}</ref> But in its most general sense, it includes all types of positive or pleasant experiences including the enjoyment of sports, seeing a beautiful sunset or engaging in an intellectually satisfying activity. 

Pleasure contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad.<ref name="Katz">{{cite web |last1=Katz |first1=Leonard D. |title=Pleasure |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pleasure/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=29 January 2021 |date=2016}}</ref> Both pleasure and pain come in degrees and have been thought of as a dimension going from positive degrees through a neutral point to negative degrees. This assumption is important for the possibility of comparing and aggregating the degrees of pleasure of different experiences, for example, in order to perform the [[Utilitarian calculus]].<ref name="Borchert"/>

===Related concepts===
The concept of pleasure is similar but not identical to the concepts of [[well-being]] and of [[happiness]].<ref name="CraigHappiness">{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Edward |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=1996 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BEAREO |chapter=Happiness}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Haybron |first1=Dan |title=Happiness |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/happiness/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=29 January 2021 |date=2020}}</ref><ref name="Crisp"/> These terms are used in overlapping ways, but their meanings tend to come apart in technical contexts like philosophy or psychology. ''Pleasure'' refers to a certain type of experience while ''well-being'' is about what is good for a person.<ref name="Tiberius">{{cite book |last1=Tiberius |first1=Valerie |title=The Oxford Handbook of Value Theory |publisher=Oxford University Press USA |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/HIROHO |chapter=Prudential value|year=2015 }}</ref><ref name="Crisp">{{cite web |last1=Crisp |first1=Roger |title=Well-Being |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/well-being/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=29 January 2021 |date=2017}}</ref> Many philosophers agree that ''pleasure'' is good for a person and therefore is a form of ''well-being''.<ref name="Weijers"/><ref name="Crisp"/> But there may be other things besides or instead of pleasure that constitute ''well-being'', like health, virtue, knowledge or the fulfillment of desires.<ref name="Tiberius"/> On some conceptions, ''happiness'' is identified with "the individual's balance of pleasant over unpleasant experience".<ref name="Haybron">{{cite web |last1=Haybron |first1=Dan |title=Happiness: 2.1 The chief candidates |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/happiness/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |date=2020}}</ref> ''Life satisfaction theories'', on the other hand, hold that ''happiness'' involves having the ''right attitude towards one's life as a whole''. ''Pleasure'' may have a role to play in this attitude, but it is not identical to ''happiness''.<ref name="Haybron"/>

Pleasure is closely related to value, desire, motivation and right action.<ref name="CraigPleasure">{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Edward |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=1996 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BEAREO |chapter=Pleasure}}</ref> There is broad agreement that pleasure is valuable in some sense.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}