Pleasure and the nature of the ethical subject

I argue it is a mistake to conclude from the indisputable truth that pleasure can be contrary to moral goodness that pleasure has at most a shallow connection to our good and is therefore dispensable for moral philosophy. I show how Aristotle and surprisingly, Kant argue for a non-trivial connection between good action and pleasure. My purpose in examining how each of these philosophers defends a deep connection between pleasure and the attainment of our good is both to further the scholarship on these historical figures and to challenge the basic assumption that pleasure is of negligible importance for contemporary ethics. The ambition of both Kant and Aristotle is to provide a theoretical account of a neglected truth from hedonism, that the attainment of our good is pleasant, but to utilize this truth in defense of the virtuous life as the best, most pleasant life.;Aristotle and Kant are able to provide complex accounts of pleasure's relation to moral goodness because they draw upon a resource that contemporary ethicists have disavowed: a metaphysically rich conception of the nature of the ethical subject. For Aristotle, the nature in question for ethical inquiry is human nature, whereas for Kant, it is finite dependent rational nature (a category inclusive of, but not limited to, humans). In the light of this metaphysically rich picture of our nature as ethical agents, Aristotle and Kant can claim that some activities are intrinsically pleasant for us, according to our nature, even though some people may not experience these pleasures. Moreover, Aristotle and Kant are able to argue that pleasure is intrinsic to good, virtuous action, without pleasure thereby constituting what good action is for the ethical agent.;I argue that the tasks of moral philosophy, which include accounting for the substantive role pleasure plays in orienting the virtuous person towards virtuous conduct, demand a more robust conception of the ethical agent and also of pleasure than that found in contemporary moral theory.