Book 10 / Chapter 5
Paragraph 3 - Pleasure and Activity
Explanation - Part By Part
"This will be even more apparent from the fact that activities are hindered by pleasures arising from other sources. For people who are fond of playing the flute are incapable of attending to arguments if they overhear some one playing the flute, since they enjoy flute-playing more than the activity in hand; so the pleasure connected with fluteplaying destroys the activity concerned with argument."
Aristotle is pointing out that when you’re engaged in an activity, the enjoyment or pleasure from something unrelated can interfere with your focus or effectiveness in what you're supposed to be doing. For example, if someone loves the sound of flute music and hears a flute being played while they’re trying to concentrate on a debate or discussion, their attention will naturally gravitate toward the music because they enjoy it more. The pleasure tied to flute-playing disrupts their ability to engage properly with the more demanding task, like making arguments. It's essentially a commentary on how competing sources of pleasure can distract us from the activity we’re trying to accomplish.
"This happens, similarly, in all other cases, when one is active about two things at once; the more pleasant activity drives out the other, and if it is much more pleasant does so all the more, so that one even ceases from the other. This is why when we enjoy anything very much we do not throw ourselves into anything else, and do one thing only when we are not much pleased by another; e.g. in the theatre the people who eat sweets do so most when the actors are poor."
Aristotle is describing how human attention and effort naturally gravitate toward whatever provides the most pleasure at a given moment. If someone is trying to engage in two activities simultaneously, the more enjoyable activity tends to overshadow the other. The more significant the difference in enjoyment, the more likely it is that the less pleasurable activity will be abandoned entirely.
He offers an everyday example for illustration: When people are at the theater and the performance is not very engaging (e.g., the actors are performing poorly), they are more likely to focus on other distractions, like eating sweets. On the flip side, if the play is highly captivating, they won’t feel the need to turn to such diversions. The overarching point here is that our attention and energy are pulled most strongly toward what we enjoy the most, sometimes at the expense of other activities or obligations.
"Now since activities are made precise and more enduring and better by their proper pleasure, and injured by alien pleasures, evidently the two kinds of pleasure are far apart. For alien pleasures do pretty much what proper pains do, since activities are destroyed by their proper pains; e.g. if a man finds writing or doing sums unpleasant and painful, he does not write, or does not do sums, because the activity is painful."
Aristotle is making the point that every activity has a "proper pleasure" that fits naturally with it, and this kind of pleasure enhances the activity, making it more accurate, stronger, and better. For example, when someone enjoys writing or solving mathematical problems, this enjoyment motivates them to keep practicing and improving in these activities.
However, he contrasts this with what he calls "alien pleasures"—pleasures unrelated to the activity at hand. These can distract or even harm the activity because they pull one's focus away. In fact, alien pleasures have a similar negative effect as outright pain does. Just as pain associated with an activity (like finding writing or math painful) makes someone avoid or stop doing it, alien pleasures can disrupt or weaken engagement with the original activity. So, "proper" and "alien" pleasures have vastly different effects on how well we engage in and perform activities.
"So an activity suffers contrary effects from its proper pleasures and pains, i.e. from those that supervene on it in virtue of its own nature. And alien pleasures have been stated to do much the same as pain; they destroy the activity, only not to the same degree."
Aristotle is explaining that every activity has its "proper" or natural pleasures and pains connected to it. If you naturally enjoy an activity (its proper pleasure), it enhances and strengthens your engagement in it. On the other hand, if you experience pain or discomfort related to that activity, it discourages or even prevents you from doing it. For example, if writing feels enjoyable to someone, they are more likely to keep doing it and improve; but if writing feels painful or unpleasant, they are less likely to continue.
Now, Aristotle points out that distractions—alien pleasures (pleasures unrelated to the activity at hand)—can have a similar effect to pain. These alien pleasures don’t match the "proper pleasure" of the activity, so they undermine or disrupt your focus, weakening or halting the activity. However, their destructive effect isn't quite as strong as proper pains; they may distract you, but they won't necessarily stop the activity as decisively as pain might. So in short, alien pleasures interrupt and harm concentration on an activity, while proper pleasures encourage and elevate it.