Pleasure  

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[[Image:Birth of Venus Botticelli.jpg|right|thumb|200px|''[[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|The Birth of Venus]]'' (detail), a [[1486]] painting by [[Sandro Botticelli]]]] [[Image:Birth of Venus Botticelli.jpg|right|thumb|200px|''[[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|The Birth of Venus]]'' (detail), a [[1486]] painting by [[Sandro Botticelli]]]]
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-'''Pleasure''' describes the broad class of mental states that [[humans]] and other [[animals]] experience as positive, enjoyable, or worth seeking. It includes more specific mental states such as [[happiness]], [[entertainment]], [[enjoyment]], [[ecstasy (emotion)|ecstasy]], and [[Euphoria (emotion)|euphoria]]. In [[psychology]], the [[Pleasure principle (psychology)|pleasure principle]] describes pleasure as a [[positive feedback]] mechanism, motivating the organism to recreate in the future the situation which it has just found pleasurable. According to this theory, organisms are similarly motivated to avoid situations that have caused [[suffering|pain]] in the past.+'''Pleasure''' describes the broad class of [[mental state]]s that [[humans]] and other [[animals]] experience as positive, enjoyable, or worth seeking. It includes more specific mental states such as [[happiness]], [[entertainment]], [[enjoyment]], [[ecstasy (emotion)|ecstasy]], and [[Euphoria (emotion)|euphoria]]. In [[psychology]], the [[Pleasure principle (psychology)|pleasure principle]] describes pleasure as a [[positive feedback]] mechanism, motivating the organism to recreate in the future the situation which it has just found pleasurable. According to this theory, organisms are similarly motivated to avoid situations that have caused [[suffering|pain]] in the past.
The experience of pleasure is [[Subjectivity|subjective]] and different individuals will experience different kinds and amounts of pleasure in the same situation. Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as [[eating]], [[exercise]], [[Human sexual activity|sex]] or [[defecation]]. Other pleasurable experiences are associated with social experiences and social drives, such as the experiences of [[pride|accomplishment]], [[Recognition (sociology)|recognition]], and [[community service|service]]. The appreciation of cultural artifacts and activities such as [[art]], [[music]], and [[literature]] is often pleasurable. The experience of pleasure is [[Subjectivity|subjective]] and different individuals will experience different kinds and amounts of pleasure in the same situation. Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as [[eating]], [[exercise]], [[Human sexual activity|sex]] or [[defecation]]. Other pleasurable experiences are associated with social experiences and social drives, such as the experiences of [[pride|accomplishment]], [[Recognition (sociology)|recognition]], and [[community service|service]]. The appreciation of cultural artifacts and activities such as [[art]], [[music]], and [[literature]] is often pleasurable.

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Pleasure describes the broad class of mental states that humans and other animals experience as positive, enjoyable, or worth seeking. It includes more specific mental states such as happiness, entertainment, enjoyment, ecstasy, and euphoria. In psychology, the pleasure principle describes pleasure as a positive feedback mechanism, motivating the organism to recreate in the future the situation which it has just found pleasurable. According to this theory, organisms are similarly motivated to avoid situations that have caused pain in the past.

The experience of pleasure is subjective and different individuals will experience different kinds and amounts of pleasure in the same situation. Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as eating, exercise, sex or defecation. Other pleasurable experiences are associated with social experiences and social drives, such as the experiences of accomplishment, recognition, and service. The appreciation of cultural artifacts and activities such as art, music, and literature is often pleasurable.

Recreational drug use can be pleasurable: some drugs, illicit and otherwise, directly create euphoria in the human brain when ingested. The mind's natural tendency to seek out more of this feeling (as described by the pleasure principle) can lead to dependence and addiction. Berridge and Robinson have proposed that addiction results from drugs hijacking the ‘wanting’ system through a sensitization of the mesolimbic dopamine system.

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Etymology

From Middle English, alteration of Middle English plaisir(“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placēre (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *plā-k- (“wide and flat”). More at please.

Philosophical views

Epicurus and his followers defined the highest pleasure as the absence of suffering and pleasure itself as "freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the soul". According to Cicero (or rather his character Torquatus) Epicurus also believed that pleasure was the chief good and pain the chief evil.

In the 12th century Razi's "Treatise of the Self and the Spirit" (Kitab al Nafs Wa’l Ruh) analyzed different types of pleasure, sensuous and intellectual, and explained their relations with one another. He concludes that human needs and desires are endless, and "their satisfaction is by definition impossible."

The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer understood pleasure as a negative sensation, one that negates the usual existential condition of suffering.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Pleasure" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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