Then there are the fully intentional pleasures, which, although in some way tied up with sensory or perceptual experience, are modes of exploration of the world. Aesthetic pleasures are like this. Aesthetic pleasures are contemplative - they involve studying an object OUTSIDE of the self, to which one is GIVING something (namely, attention and all that flows from it), and not TAKING, as in the pleasure that comes from drugs and drinks. Hence such pleasures are not addictive - there is no pathway to reward that can be short-circuited here, and a serotonin injection is not a cheap way of obtaining the experience of PARISFAL or THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. .Roger Scruton
About This Quote
The idea that aesthetic pleasure is non-addictive is true, but it's not quite what was intended. When someone says that aesthetic pleasure is "not addictive", they mean to say that it doesn't feel good because the brain gets used to the pleasurable high. This is true, but it misses the point. The brain does get used to the pleasurable high, but only because the pleasure has been so satisfying for so long, so consistently. Aesthetic experience is not about getting used to an experience - it's about experiencing something new.
Source: On Human Nature
Some Similar Quotes
- I think we ought to live happily ever after.
- So what's the point, then, if we can't be happy? Why are we doing any of this?"" Oh, there's definitely happiness, " Jack said, turning his back on the ocean and looking at her. "But it's just about moments, not ever-afters." He grinned. "Like when...
- Happily ever after doesn’t just happen because you’ve found the love of your life. Happiness is a personal choice.
- What if Happily Ever After is a path you can choose and not The End?
- Her laugh, her laugh was the sound that brought him out of the darkness and into the light. Her laugh dragged him, by his damn collar, through the bullshit clouding his mind and infecting his thoughts.
More Quotes By Roger Scruton
- When you live on the edge of a cursed forest, you do a lot of staring into the dark.
- I am Mae Waylander from Halts-Walden, daughter of Robert Wallander, a good man who lost his life saving hers.' I point to Ellen. 'And I am the girl who has saved your brother's life on numerous occasions in the Waerg Woods - who fought off...
- I am Mae Waylander from Halts-Walden, daughter of Robert Waylander, a good man who lost his life saving hers.' I point to Ellen. 'And I am the girl who has saved your brother's life on numerous occasions in the Waerg Woods - who fought off...
- Welhewan is charming us, ' Sasha says in an unsure voice. 'It is trying to soothe us with its lullaby. Do not let yourself .. . Oh, a butterfly. Look how beautiful it is! No, don't look. The forest is making us happy, and we...
- Yes, from drinking too much beer and generally being a tyrannical egomaniac.