11.0133 pleasure & knowledge

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Mon, 23 Jun 1997 22:26:56 +0100 (BST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 11, No. 133.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 22:21:00 +0800
From: Chris Floyd <cfloyd@carmen.murdoch.edu.au>
Subject: Re: pleasure & knowledge

>So far, I have only been a lurker on this list. I now think that it is
>time for me to "come out". Can I just say that I get an enormous amount
>of pleasure and knowledge out of just reading contributions to the list
>- that's when I get time to read them.
>
>I am now curious about the the relationship between pleasure and
>knowledge - any thoughts?
>
>Patrick Allen.

Pleasure is to enjoy something. Knowledge is to know you enjoy something.
The two are quite different. You need a theory to know that something is
worth enjoying. Of course, theory and knowledge are also quite different.
Coming to know something can be pleasurable except when that something is a
theory that you know nothing. Then ignorance is pleasure.

Dr Chris Floyd
Oral: +61 8 9339 8632
Ink: +61 8 9385 7443
mailto:cfloyd@carmen.murdoch.edu.au
http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/~cfloyd