Feldman on the nature and value of pleasure

Abstract

Fred Feldman is the Roger Federer of philosophy. His strokes are crisp and clean, his shots deep and penetrating, his finesse dazzling. And he makes it all look so easy! Pleasure and the Good Life is just the latest in a long line of works that are peerless in their combination of insight, rigor, subtlety, and clarity. There is a great deal in the book that seems to me absolutely right and about which I will therefore have nothing to say. In this comment, I will focus on points that continue to trouble me, despite Feldman’s best efforts at setting me straight.