The Fifth Influence

THE FIFTH INFLUENCEOR, THE DIALECTICS OF PLEASURE"Th is book is about everything you ever wanted to know about pleasure, butdid not know where to fi nd the answers."- Alexander OvsichEcclesiastes 3-12 and 3-13: ³I know that there is nothing better for themthan to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; also that it isGod¹s gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasurein all his toil².- 8-15 it says. ²And I commend enjoym- ent for man has no good thingunder the sun but to eat and drink, and enjoy himself, for this will gowith him in his toil through the days of life which God gives him underthe sun²;"To my knowledge, only one psychological theory of motivational interactionshas been put forward: Cabanac holds that pleasure is the common currencyguaranteeing the trade-off necessary for achieving the ranking of concurrentmotivations. In other words, in his view, organisms decide to commit to theactivity that maximizes pleasure."- Patrick Anselme"Th e reasons that Michel Cabanac gives for his views on pleasure are goodreasons, because they are supported by arguments about evidence, andnot simply opinions based upon introspection. Indeed, the main pleasurethat I gained from this book came from reading about the very elegantexperiments that Michel and his colleagues have conducted over the years.In this respect, I fi nd it hard to believe that other people's experience willbe diff erent from mine."- David McFarland