Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

12-2024

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Philosophy

Reader 1

Professor James Kreines

Rights Information

© 2024 Elizaveta Gorelik

Abstract

In this thesis, I aim to reconcile two seemingly incompatible goals: living for the maximization of pleasure and constructing a self. I propose and defend my view by first explaining two views that oppose each other on this issue, namely the arguments of authors A and B in Søren Kierkegaard’s “Either/Or.” I begin by explaining A’s argument that since most people have nothing else to live for other than sensual pleasure, they should work to maximize their experience of sensual pleasure by never making commitments. I then present B’s counterargument to A, where he argues that one can only construct a self through commitments to social institutions. This set-up of the tension between A and B allows me to introduce my own view by deploying Jean-Paul Sartre’s argument against objective morality. I concede that living for sensual pleasure and constructing a self are two incompatible goals. Thus, most people who have nothing else to live for other than pleasure, and who want to construct a self, can live for a type of pleasure which is non-sensual. I propose that this is the pleasure of self-creation, which relies on making commitments that construct a self. However, I reject B’s conclusion that everyone must make commitments to social institutions by arguing in support of Sartre’s lack of objective morality. Ultimately, I conclude that most people live for the pleasure of self-creation, which they derive from making commitments that are not guided by an objective morality.

This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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