Response Paper #2!

Gilbert and Freud both believed that everyone innately seeks pleasure. They both believed in the reality principle, that for people to actually experience pleasure, they would have to experience pain and suffering first. Freud, coining the phrase “reality principle, thought that for one to obtain even a basic level of satisfaction, they must endure or go through some type of hardship.  This makes satisfaction inevitable and motivates a person to continue through the pain. He notes that “…the ‘ reality-principle’, which without giving up the intention of ultimately attaining pleasure yet demands and enforces the postponement of satisfaction, the renun- ciation of manifold possibilities of it, and the temporary endurance of ‘pain’ on the long and circuitous road to pleasure.” (5) Gilbert, coincidently, although probably through studying Freud’s theories, also thought that pleasure, even though it is different for each individual, is something that everyone associates with experiences they go through. He gives an example of a fruit fly and they, like humans, use situations to learn pleasure and pain. He states “To maximize pleasures and minimize our pains, we must be able to associate our experiences with the circumstances that produced them…” and also “they associate their best and worst experiences with the circumstances that accompanied and preceded them, which allows them to seek or avoid those circumstances in the future.” (204). Given my own experiences, I can testify to this theory. If I ate something I don’t like, I will be sure to avoid that food no matter the circumstances, even if someone tries to pressure me into eating it. However, if I taste something once and I enjoy it, I will definitely be craving it and wanting more of it!