Philebus
Plato (428–347 BC)
Plato's Philebus in the Greek text edited by John Burnet, with Harold North Fowler's English translation.
Section 11
Section 12
Section 13
Section 14
Section 15
Section 16
Section 17
Section 18
Section 19
Section 20
Section 21
Section 22
Section 23
Section 24
Section 25
Section 26
Section 27
Section 28
Section 29
Section 30
Section 31
Soc. We have now, then, my friend, pretty clearly shown to what class mind belongs and what power it possesses.
Pro. Certainly.
Soc. And likewise the class of pleasure was made clear some time ago.
Pro. Yes, it was.
Soc. Let us, then, remember concerning both of them that mind was akin to cause and belonged more or less to that class, and that pleasure was itself infinite and belonged to the class which, in and by itself, has not and never will have either beginning or middle or end.
Pro. We will remember that, of course.
Soc. Our next task is to see in what and by means of what feeling each of them comes into being whenever they do come into being. We will take pleasure first and discuss these questions in relation to pleasure, as we examined its class first. But we cannot examine pleasure successfully apart from pain.
Pro. If that is our proper path, let us follow it.
Soc. Do you agree with us about the origin of pleasure?
Pro. What do you think it is?
Soc. I think pain and pleasure naturally originate in the combined class.
Pro. Please, my dear Socrates, remind us which of the aforesaid classes you mean by the combined class.
Soc. I will do so, as well as I can, my brilliant friend.
Pro. Thank you.
Soc. By combined class, then, let us understand that which we said was the third of the four.
Pro. The one you mentioned after the infinite and the finite, and in which you put health and also, I believe, harmony?
Soc. You are quite right. Now please pay very close attention.
Pro. I will. Say on.
Soc. I say, then, that when, in us living beings, harmony is broken up, a disruption of nature and a generation of pain also take place at the same moment.
Pro. What you say is very likely.
Soc. But if harmony is recomposed and returns to its own nature, then I say that pleasure is generated, if I may speak in the fewest and briefest words about matters of the highest import.
Pro. I think you are right, Socrates; but let us try to be more explicit.
Soc. It is easiest to understand common and obvious examples, is it not?
Pro. What examples?
Soc. Is hunger a kind of breaking up and a pain?
Pro. Yes.
Soc. And eating, which is a filling up again, is a pleasure?
Pro. Yes.