II. There remains another application of the doctrine, perhaps equally
interesting to contemplate, and more within my special line of study.
I mean the correlation of the mental forces among themselves (still
viewed in the conjoint arrangement). Just as we assign limits to mind
as a whole, by a reference to the grant of physical expenditure, in
oxidation, etc., for the department, so we must assign limits to the
different phases or modes of mental work--thought, feeling, and so
on--according to the share allotted to each; so that, while the mind as
a whole may be stinted by the demands of the non-mental functions, each
separate manifestation is bounded by the requirements of the others.
This is an inevitable consequence of the general principle, and equally
receives the confirmation of experience. There is the same absence of
numerical precision of estimate; our scale of quantity can have but few
divisions between the highest and the lowest degrees, and these not
well fixed.
What is required for this application of the principle is, to ascertain
the comparative cost, in the physical point of view, of the different
functions of the mind.
The great divisions of the mind are--feeling, will, and thought;
feeling, seen in our pleasures and pains; will, in our labors to
attain the one and avoid the other; thought, in our sensations, ideas,
recollections, reasonings, imaginings, and so on. Now, the forces of
the mind, with their physical supports, may be evenly or unevenly
distributed over the three functions. They may go by preference either
to feeling, to action, or to thinking; and, if more is given to one,
less must remain to the others, the entire quantity being limited.
First, as to the feelings. Every throb of pleasure costs something to
the physical system; and two throbs cost twice as much as one. If we
cannot fix a precise equivalent, it is not because the relation is not
definite, but from the difficulties of reducing degrees of pleasure to
a recognized standard. Of this, however, there can be no reasonable
doubt--namely, that a large amount of pleasure supposes a corresponding
large expenditure of blood and nerve-tissue, to the stinting, perhaps,
of the active energies and the intellectual processes. It is a matter
of practical moment to ascertain what pleasures cost least, for there
are thrifty and unthrifty modes of spending our brain and heart’s
blood. Experience probably justifies us in saying that the narcotic
stimulants are, in general, a more extravagant expenditure than the
stimulation of food, society, and fine art. One of the safest of
delights, if not very acute, is the delight of abounding physical
vigor; for, from the very supposition, the supply to the brain is not
such as to interfere with the general interests of the system. But the
theory of pleasure is incomplete without the theory of pain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account