O.G. Rose | Capital, the Pleasure Principle, (De)compression, and Friendship by O.G. Rose @O.G.Rose.Michelle.and.Daniel | Uploaded January 2024 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
As Cadell has taught on during "The Month of Libido" (January 2024) at Philosophy Portal, we learn from Freud and Lacan that the brain naturally works according to "the pleasure principle," which is to say that we naturally make choices relative to what will increase pleasure ("the pleasure principle" and what Augustine means when he says "bad motivations are impossible" seem related). From eating food to uncrossing my legs to avoiding anxiety - all of these can be seen as operations of "the pleasure principle," which society must "check and balance" with "the reality principle" (restrictions, "givens," etc.) so that our desire for pleasure doesn't lead to profound problems (say everyone has sex freely and there are countless orphans, everyone consumes and never works so the society falls apart, etc.). Critically, we find pleasure in the act of understanding itself - it is more pleasurable to understand then not - which is a reason why we avoid "lack" and anxiety (cutting ourselves off from Childhood), and also it means we enjoy the "act of compression" the brain carries out so that we can understand the world around us. When I look at a bookcase, I don't experience its fullness, only a "compressed image" of it, as necessary so that I can understand it. Otherwise, I might lose my mind and find myself unable to function...
For the full essay, please visit:
ogrose.substack.com/p/capital-the-pleasure-principle-decompression
Medium:
o-g-rose-writing.medium.com/capital-the-pleasure-principle-de-compression-and-friendship-08de7e64e5ed
For more by O.G. Rose:
ogrose.com
Photo by Nathan Dumlao
As Cadell has taught on during "The Month of Libido" (January 2024) at Philosophy Portal, we learn from Freud and Lacan that the brain naturally works according to "the pleasure principle," which is to say that we naturally make choices relative to what will increase pleasure ("the pleasure principle" and what Augustine means when he says "bad motivations are impossible" seem related). From eating food to uncrossing my legs to avoiding anxiety - all of these can be seen as operations of "the pleasure principle," which society must "check and balance" with "the reality principle" (restrictions, "givens," etc.) so that our desire for pleasure doesn't lead to profound problems (say everyone has sex freely and there are countless orphans, everyone consumes and never works so the society falls apart, etc.). Critically, we find pleasure in the act of understanding itself - it is more pleasurable to understand then not - which is a reason why we avoid "lack" and anxiety (cutting ourselves off from Childhood), and also it means we enjoy the "act of compression" the brain carries out so that we can understand the world around us. When I look at a bookcase, I don't experience its fullness, only a "compressed image" of it, as necessary so that I can understand it. Otherwise, I might lose my mind and find myself unable to function...
For the full essay, please visit:
ogrose.substack.com/p/capital-the-pleasure-principle-decompression
Medium:
o-g-rose-writing.medium.com/capital-the-pleasure-principle-de-compression-and-friendship-08de7e64e5ed
For more by O.G. Rose:
ogrose.com
Photo by Nathan Dumlao
