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Would/could pleasure be possible without pain, or pain without pleasure?
October 16, 2005
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Consider an intense (e.g. sexual) pleasure. I see no reason why some lucky person who had never experiences pain couldn't experience such a pleasure. Even if a person can only enjoy a pleasure by means of some contrast (itself a debatable point), mundane 'neutral' experience is enough of a contrast with intense pleasure: pain is not required. And I would take this one step further: not only could you experience pleasure without having experienced pain, you could experience pleasure even if nobody ever experienced pain.