The Value of Life 215Since satisfaction is always demanded in a specific way,
the pleasure associated with it acquires such a signifi-
cance that, after satisfaction has occurred, we must take
the unavoidable quantity of pain into account only to the
extent that it has diminished the quantity of our desire. If
I am a passionate devotee of beautiful views, I never cal-
culate how much pleasure I will get from the view from a
mountain peak and compare it with the pain of the labori-
ous ascent and descent. I consider only whether, after
overcoming these difficulties, my desire for the view will
still be sufficiently lively. Only indirectly, through the in-
tensity of the desire, do pleasure and pain together yield a
result. The question is never whether pleasure or pain is
present in surplus but whether the will for the pleasure is
great enough to overcome the pain.
A proof for the correctness of this assertion is the fact
that we put a higher value on pleasure when it must be pur-
chased at the cost of great pain than when it falls into our
lap like a gift from heaven. If pain and torment have di-
minished our desire, and the goal is nevertheless attained,
then the pleasure is that much greater in proportion to the
remaining quantity of desire. Now, as I have shown (cf. p.
210), it is this proportional relationship that represents the
value of the pleasure. Further proof is provided by the fact
that living creatures (including human beings) express
their drives as long as they are in a position to bear the
pains and torments that they encounter. The struggle for
existence is but a consequence of this fact. Living crea-
tures strive to fulfill themselves; only those whose desires
are smothered by the force of the opposing difficulties