TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fatić, Aleksandar
AU  - Dentsoras, Dimitrios
PY  - 2014
UR  - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/357
AB  - The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We begin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts.
PB  - Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa
T2  - South African Journal of Philosophy
T1  - Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness
SP  - 523
EP  - 536
DO  - 10.1080/02580136.2014.967594
ER  - 

@article{
author = "Fatić, Aleksandar and Dentsoras, Dimitrios",
year = "2014",
abstract = "The essay examines the central role that pleasure plays in a wide range of conceptualisations of happiness or ‘good life’, from Epicurean hedonism, to Christian asceticism, to contemporary cases of pastoral and philosophical counselling. Despite the apparent moral chasm between hedonists and ascetics, a look at the practices promoted by Epicurus and the Christian monastic fathers reveals striking similarities. The reason is that, at a fundamental level, both parties agree that one should reject the vulgar pleasures that society glorifies, and develop a refined attitude that seeks the appropriate and natural pleasures, while ignoring the harmful or unnecessary ones. And such an attitude can only be acquired through moral training, either by philosophical instruction and reflection, or by pastoral counselling. We highlight some important parallels regarding the connection between pleasure and happiness, as conceived by Epicureans and monastic fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We begin by discussing elements of Epicureanism that can also be found in its rival philosophical schools and Christianity, mainly the emphasis on forming the right conception of happiness and acting in accordance with it. We then examine the connection between morality and happiness in the Christian Orthodox monasticism. We argue that Christian ascetic ethics not only condone some types of pleasures, but in fact require them as elements of happiness in this life that play an instrumental role for the Christian soteriological dogma. The argument has wider philosophical significance because it shows that pleasure is indeed a fundamental conceptual ingredient of happiness across different normative ethical contexts.",
publisher = "Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa",
journal = "South African Journal of Philosophy",
title = "Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness",
pages = "523-536",
doi = "10.1080/02580136.2014.967594"
}

Fatić, A.,& Dentsoras, D.. (2014). Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness. in South African Journal of Philosophy
Cape Town : The Philosophical Society of Southern Africa., 523-536.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2014.967594

Fatić A, Dentsoras D. Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness. in South African Journal of Philosophy. 2014;:523-536.
doi:10.1080/02580136.2014.967594 .

Fatić, Aleksandar, Dentsoras, Dimitrios, "Pleasure in Epicurean and Christian Orthodox conceptions of happiness" in South African Journal of Philosophy (2014):523-536,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2014.967594 . .