Pleasure vs. Pain

According to John Locke, there is good and there is evil. Good and evil affect us in different ways. The main ways they affect us is by either increasing or decreasing pleasure or pain. Good increases pleasure and decreases pain. Evil does the opposite, increases pain and decreases pleasure. Pleasure and pain also make other emotions depending on how one perceives the situation. Some of these emotions include love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, hope, fear, despair, anger and envy. Love and joy fall under pleasure. Hatred and sorrow fall under pain. Desire, I believe, is in between joy and sorrow. When you desire something, it’s not really either pleasure or pain, but once you do or do not get what you desire, it turns to joy or sorrow. Hope is when you’re in a painful situation and you look towards the good. Fear is when you’re in a pleasurable situation and you see that evil may come. Despair falls between the two: you’re not really looking for hope, but you’re not exactly fearing anything. Anger and envy are special emotions that technically fall under pain, but they have to do with another person.

I believe Locke is correct in his statements. Because going against what he says would be to say evil increases pleasure and good increases pain, but that is preposterous, unless you roll like that, but for me, Locke is right.

Even though I almost whole-heartedly agree with Locke, I disagree with him on one topic. He says that with anger, there’s a “present purpose of revenge”. You don't need to be vengeful in order to be angry.