Plato, student of Socrates and founder of the Academy, gave his position on many

important philosophical matters in his numerous texts. One of Plato’s more popular and often

disputed philosophical standpoints is his view on the pursuit of pleasure. Plato believed that our

aim in life should be to reject pleasures of the body and penetrated to a deeper level of

underlying reality (History of Philosophy). Hedonism, or the pursuit of pleasure, was an issue

discussed extensively in multiple texts written by Plato. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia

of Philosophy, Plato’s view on hedonism is “…if your life is just one of pleasure then it would

not even include any recollection of pleasure” (Hedonism). Plato argues that if an individual’s

whole life is spent doing things that bring them pleasure, they will not be able to appreciate life

for it’s true importance. Instead, Plato believes that the deeper meaning in life comes from the

pursuit of knowledge.

To understand Plato’s stance on this philosophical issue, one must first understand his

version of an “underlying reality.” As discussed in Plato’s Republic, philosophers are

determined to be the rulers of Plato’s theoretical society due to their desire to find the truth in all

situations. Plato breaks the societies inhabitants into two main classes, the “lovers of sight and

sound” and the “truth seekers.” Philosophers are claimed to be the ones who always strive to

find the truth and claims that true knowledge only applies to things that don’t exist or aren’t

affected by nature. For instance, Plato claims that arithmetic is a form of unwavering

knowledge, as there is nothing that can disprove the truth of its existence. One plus one will

always equal two, and no one can refute this claim. Plato believes that individuals should not

allow pleasure to distract them from pursuing this higher level of understanding and knowledge.

Plato’s ideas of anti-hedonism are first brought up is throughout his text, Phaedo. Within

this text, Plato recounts the philosopher Phaedo’s last discussions with Socrates before his death.
Plato claims, “the soul of the true philosopher abstains from pleasures and desires and pain, so

far as it can” (Plato 83b). Plato’s belief comes from the idea that pleasure is the main cause of

evil in the world, and people’s desires to drink, have sex, and eat gluttonously lead to many of

the issues in society. Instead of giving in to these pleasures, a philosopher or virtuous member of

society should abstain from any hedonistic events to create a better community to live in. Plato

views unnecessary pleasures as destructive to human nature, and if one is exposed to them too

often, they will be corrupted. This corruption of the individual will eventually lead to the

corruption of the entire community. For instance, if individuals in higher government positions

fall to this corruption through pleasure, then everyone in turn will also be affected negatively.

In Plato’s Republic, the ideas of pleasure negatively affecting a community are once

again discussed. Plato attempts to create a theoretical utopian society where individuals all have

one task, and if these tasks are completely effectively, the society should have little issues.

Throughout this text, Plato makes it clear that all unnecessary pleasures must be avoided for the

experiment to be a success. The leading class in this society, known as the guardians, is not

allowed to obtain money to avoid spending on unnecessary luxuries. Also, reproduction only

takes place between select individuals, and is not meant for pleasure. By creating these

stipulations, Plato attempts to remove all distractions of pleasure in hopes of improving the

society. His theory is that if everyone can complete their tasks without interruption, the Republic

will function smoothly and will not have internal issues. If pleasures remain a distraction for a

society’s members, the society will never be able to achieve its greatest form.
 Works Cited

“History of Philosophy - Summarized & Visualized.” History of Philosophy - Summarized &

Visualized, https://www.denizcemonduygu.com/philo/browse/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.

Add in Phaedo and Republic Citations

Moore, Andrew. “‘Hedonism.’” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019,

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/.

Pojman, Louis P., and Lewis Vaughn. Classics of Philosophy. Oxford University Press, USA,

2011.