218 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
the incorrectness of pessimistic conclusions, but we may
question neither the possibility of a scientific estimation of
the quantities of pleasure and pain, nor therefore the deter-
mination of the balance of pleasure. Yet it is wrong to
claim that the results of such calculation have some bear-
ing on human volition. We really evaluate our actions ac-
cording to whether pleasure or pain predominates only
when we are indifferent to the objects of our activity. If it
is a matter merely of deciding between enjoying a game or
a light conversation after a day’s work, and I am indiffer-
ent as to which of the two I choose, then I shall ask myself
which brings me the greater surplus of pleasure. I shall
certainly abandon an activity if the scale dips toward the
side of pain. When we buy a toy for a child, our choice de-
pends on what we think will give the most pleasure. In all
other circumstances, however, we do not base our deci-
sions exclusively on the balance of pleasure.
If pessimistic ethicists believe that, by proving that
pain exceeds pleasure, they are paving the way for self-
less devotion to the work of culture, they are not taking
into account that human will, by its very nature, is not in-
fluenced by this knowledge. Human striving is governed
by the quantity of possible satisfaction after all difficul-
ties have been overcome. Hope of such satisfaction is the
basis of all human activity. The work of each individual
and the whole work of culture springs from this hope.
Pessimistic ethics believes it must present the human
pursuit of happiness as impossible, so that people will
devote themselves to the proper ethical tasks. But these
ethical tasks are nothing other than our actual natural and
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