Sign In
Subscribe
By Natural Philosopher Michael Alan Prestwood
By Natural Philosopher Michael Alan Prestwood
Sign In
Subscribe
Science    Philosophy  •  Critical Thinking  •  History    Politics  •  RW  •  AI  •  Physics

TIMELINE STORY

Dichotomy of Pleasure

From Year 0 (BCE/CE): -338
Share :
Email
Print

Dichotomy of Pleasure

Dichotomy of Pleasure: Epicureanism highlights the difference between short-term and long-term pleasures. They assert you can live a better life by focusing on long-term pleasures like exercise and reading over short-term pleasures like overeating and getting drunk.

Dichotomy of Pleasure

30 Phil, Chapter 11, Epicurus, Touchstone 31: Dichotomy of Pleasure.

Epicurus defined two types of pleasure: short-term and long-term. Too frequently people put short term pleasures over long-term ones causing deeper harm than warranted.
A short-term pleasure is kinetic as in the active enjoyment of fulfilling a desire, such as eating a delicious meal or engaging in a pleasurable activity. Longer or deeper pleasures are katastematic and include the relief of quenching one’s thirst or the contentment of a good night’s sleep. Put simply, for each pair of kinetic-katastematic pleasures, Epicurus wants you to prioritize the katastematic pleasure to live a better life.

Share this on...

More Timeline Stories...

WWB Season 7 — Returning 2026!

I’m taking this time to catch up with the paired videos for recent WWB editions, and to restructure the WWB into seasions of 10 weeks: four 1-Minute Hot Topics. Each week featureing a tidbit in science, philosophy, critical, thinking, and history. Follow the TST YouTube channel to catch all new videos. –Mike

Weekly Wisdom Builder 
December 3, 2025 Edition
February 26, 2025 Edition
Time Left: 

Subscribe!

It’s Free! No ads! No catches! One email each Thursday.

Exactly what the world needs RIGHT NOW!
Wisdom at the crossroads of knowledge.

Wisdom emerges from the consistent exploration of the intersections of philosophy, science, critical thinking, and history.

NEW BOOK! NOW AVAILABLE!!

30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas

by Michael Alan Prestwood
The story of the history of our best ideas!
Scroll to Top