Is it best for man to follow his natural pleasures? Or should

moderation is best, if you snorted cocaine all day you'd go insane and become a former shadow of yourself, if you are too altruistic you'd cuck yourself

t. epicurus

>>2076706
Why did Caravaggio make John the Baptist so uh, enticing
Religious paintings in this tradition are so sensual I feel conflicted between my innate impulse to avoid violating the sacred, and my sexual drive liberated from spooks
Your answers will depend on different assumptions. The fact you said "natural" pleasures might cause a person in the Christian moral tradition to deliberately draw attention to your use of the word 'natural', by emphasisng that there are natural human ends that are pleasurable and good to follow, as well as morally right, like what Christians consider naturally ordered sexual intercourse (between a husband and wife, not closed to the possibility of procreation, unitive, etc.), or more ordinarily, eating healthily, communicating with other humans, and so on.
To say that sins are unnatural is not to say that they come from outside the innate human condition, but that they are not part of the naturally, divinely ordered ends of human will. Fuck its hard to write properly right now.
But basically most sins are 'natural' in the sense that we would typically think, but yeah. All sins are based on typical 'natural pleasures', but distorted from their proper purposes. So 'natural pleasures', the way I've interpreted it, refers to the natural fulfillment of those impulses within man.
Just thought I'd provide an answer based on your particular wording.

>>2076744
>So 'natural pleasures', the way I've interpreted it, refers to the natural fulfillment of those impulses within man.
ah, yes you caught my wording. The question I prompted was focused on natural pleasures. Not ones outside of mans nature (i.e. extreme drugs & addiction) so would you say it is best for a man to squabble in his natural inclinations, to fill his own personnel impulses or should he hold himself to a moral? What is best for his own nature?

>>2076706
Why can't they be the same thing?

>>2076735
But in one moment to the next we have transformed and therefore died, our new selves being influenced by the past and defined by the present. If you snort cocaine all day that's just your thing, that is you now...

E. Jean Carroll’s 1993 memoir of Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) opens like this:

I have heard the biographers of Harry S. Truman, Catherine the Great, etc., etc., say they would give anything if their subjects were alive so they could ask them some questions. I, on the other hand, would give anything if my subject were dead.

He should be. Oh, yes. Look at his daily routine:

3:00 p.m. rise

3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills

3:45 cocaine

3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill

4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill

4:15 cocaine

4:16 orange juice, Dunhill

4:30 cocaine

4:54 cocaine

5:05 cocaine

5:11 coffee, Dunhills

5:30 more ice in the Chivas

5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.

6:00 grass to take the edge off the day

7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas.)

9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously

10:00 drops acid

11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass

11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.

12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write

12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.

6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo

8:00 Halcyon

8:20 sleep

>>2077012
>Why can't they be the same thing?
Often we find that what man wants and what is taught to be morally correct are very different. Often this is the conflict between morals and pleasures.

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>>2076706
Your definition of "best" will decide this. You will have to formulate goals that complement your ontology, and the two will arise together. You can't built an ontology from goals. And you can't build goals from an ontology. This is the dual nature of the mind for some reason.

>>2077061
>facepalm.jpg
Read more.

>>2077676
>pleasures
>morals
>same
please elaborate

>>2077850
If you pick up any introduction to philosophy you'll learn about a person named Aristotle and something called virtue ethics