Pleasure and the limits of desire › Further reading

Michael BrenndoerferUpdated October 28, 20251 min read

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Philosophy12 parts · 142 chaptersView the whole book →

Active chapter 4 of 142

Part 1The Good Life

Part 2Moral Reasons

14Duty and the categorical imperative
15Freedom and practical reasonComing soon
16Sentiment and moral judgment
17Happiness and consequences
18Conflicting dutiesComing soon
19What we mean by goodComing soon
20The challenge to objective valuesComing soon
21The problem with moral obligationComing soon
22Justification to other peopleComing soon
23Agreement between moral theoriesComing soon
24Reasons, identity, and future peopleComing soon
25Care and moral understandingComing soon
26Care as a relationshipComing soon
27Responsibility for another personComing soon

Part 3Freedom, Meaning, and Mortality

28Choosing a way of lifeComing soon
29Freedom and responsibility
30Living with the absurdComing soon
31Creating valuesComing soon
32Questioning moral certaintyComing soon
33How moral values acquire a historyComing soon
34Desire and dissatisfactionComing soon
35Memory, self-examination, and timeComing soon
36Fortune and what remains valuable
37Philosophy and death

Part 4Faith and Reason

38Thinking about a necessary beingComing soon
39Natural theology and natural lawComing soon
40The limits of philosophical demonstrationComing soon
41Philosophy and scriptural interpretationComing soon
42Reason, scripture, and the limits of languageComing soon
43Belief, uncertainty, and commitmentComing soon
44Examining arguments from designComing soon
45Faith and ethical judgmentComing soon
46Freedom and the problem of evilComing soon
47Warrant and religious beliefComing soon
48Evidence and a cumulative case for GodComing soon
49Assessing the case for theismComing soon
50Divine love and nonbeliefComing soon

Part 5Knowledge and Doubt

51Learning and inquiryComing soon
52What knowledge requires
53Suspending judgmentComing soon
54Doubt and certainty
55Experience and the limits of understanding
56Experience, causation, and inductionComing soon
57The conditions of experienceComing soon
58Revising a system of beliefsComing soon
59True belief and epistemic luckComing soon
60Taking knowledge as a starting pointComing soon
61Trust, credibility, and injusticeComing soon
62Perspective and the limits of certaintyComing soon

Part 6Being, Change, and Possibility

63Testing the theory of formsComing soon
64Being, difference, and falsehoodComing soon
65Change, motion, and explanationComing soon
66Substance and what it means to beComing soon
67A world of atoms and voidComing soon
68Unity and the manyComing soon
69Self and ultimate realityComing soon
70Dependence and emptinessComing soon
71Substance, nature, and necessityComing soon
72Individuals and a rational orderComing soon
73Simple substances and a complex worldComing soon
74Universals and economical explanationComing soon
75Experience and changing forms of understandingComing soon
76Thinking through categoriesComing soon
77Difference without a prior identityComing soon
78The reality of possible worldsComing soon
79Questions within and about a frameworkComing soon

Part 7Mind, Self, and Experience

80Soul and the capacities of living thingsComing soon
81Mind and category mistakesComing soon
82Mental roles and the world beyond the mindComing soon
83The subjective character of experienceComing soon
84Computation and understandingComing soon
85Explaining consciousness without a central observerComing soon
86The problem of conscious experienceComing soon
87Beginning phenomenological inquiryComing soon
88Bracketing and the structure of experienceComing soon
89Intentionality and the objects of thoughtComing soon
90Being in the world
91Perception through a lived bodyComing soon
92Consciousness, freedom, and bad faithComing soon

Part 8Logic, Language, and Interpretation

93Making inference explicitComing soon
94What numbers areComing soon
95The project of grounding mathematics in logicComing soon
96The limits of formal proofComing soon
97Reasoning about necessity and possibilityComing soon
98Meaning and referenceComing soon
99Descriptions and logical formComing soon
100Language, world, and logical formComing soon
101Meaning through useComing soon
102Doing things by speakingComing soon
103What speakers implyComing soon
104Truth and understanding a speakerComing soon
105Translation and its indeterminacyComing soon
106Names and necessityComing soon
107Understanding within a traditionComing soon
108Structure and the limits of a centerComing soon
109Writing and the idea of an original meaningComing soon

Part 9Science and Explanation

110Meaning and verificationComing soon
111Testing and falsificationComing soon
112Normal science and conceptual changeComing soon
113Evaluating a research programmeComing soon
114The limits of a universal scientific methodComing soon
115Evidence and scientific realismComing soon

Part 10Justice and Political Authority

116Justice in a person and a city
117Citizenship and a shared life
118Security and sovereign authority
119Rights, consent, and resistance
120Freedom under a common law
121Fair terms of cooperationComing soon
122Entitlement and the limits of the stateComing soon
123Community and the person who choosesComing soon
124Difference and structural injusticeComing soon
125Comparing actual injusticesComing soon
126The conditions of a human lifeComing soon

Part 11Power, History, and Social Criticism

127Class and political conflictComing soon
128Commodities, labor, and accumulationComing soon
129Labor, work, and actionComing soon
130Understanding totalitarian dominationComing soon
131Becoming the otherComing soon
132Discipline and the organization of conductComing soon
133Power, discourse, and sexualityComing soon
134Reason and dominationComing soon
135Communication and social coordinationComing soon
136Desire and social productionComing soon
137Progress and the claims of the pastComing soon

Part 12Art, Beauty, and Interpretation

138Beauty and reflective judgmentComing soon
139Art and its historical formsComing soon
140Art and reproductionComing soon
141Autonomy and social criticism
142What makes something a work of artComing soon

Part 1 of 12The Good Life

Chapter 4Pleasure and the limits of desire › Further reading

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Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus, translated by Cyril Bailey. The Greek and English appear together, with section numbers for following the argument.
Epicurus, Principal Doctrines, preserved by Diogenes Laertius. Especially useful for the claims about pain, friendship, and justice that the letter treats briefly or leaves undeveloped.
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, Book III. An extended Epicurean treatment of the soul and mortality, useful for continuing the debate about death.

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