The Value of Life 201put the displeasure of boredom, that of unfulfilled striv-
ing, and finally, what encounters us apart from our de-
sires. To this column belongs the pain caused by work
imposed upon us that we have not chosen for ourselves.
The question now arises: what is the right method for
reckoning thebalance of these credits and debits? Eduard
von Hartmann believes that it is reason that weighs them.
To be sure, he also says, “Pain and pleasureexist onlyto
the extent that they arefelt.” It follows from this that there
is no other yardstick for pleasure than the subjective one
of feeling. I mustfeel whether the sum of my pleasurable
and unpleasurable emotions results in a balance of joy or
pain within me. Regardless of this, von Hartmann claims
Though the value of every creature’s life can
be found only by looking at its own subjective
yardstick, this is not to say that every creature cal-
culates the total emotional contents of lifecor-
rectlyor, in other words, thatits total estimateof
its own life is correct with regard to its subjective
experiences.^4
Thereby,rational judgment about feeling is made once
more into the proper evaluator.^5
Those who adhere more or less exactly to the views of
such thinkers as Eduard von Hartmann might believe that,
4.Philosophie des Unbewussten, 7th Edition Vol. II, p. 290.
- Anyone who wants to calculate whether the sum total of pleasure
or of pain predominates forgets that a calculation is being set up
about something that is never experienced. Feeling does not calcu-
late, and for the real evaluation of life what matters is real experi-
ence, not the result of an imaginary calculation. (Author’s note)