Risk as Pleasure Corrected Text
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an equilibrium of pleasures. To mitigate the daily grind, humanity had
simultaneously devised numerous diversions that we collectively regard as
recreational outlets: vacations, the arts, hobbies, sports, clubs, parties, dating,
dining, dancing, and many other facets of leisure. We find these pastimes
intrinsically pleasurable because they incorporate essential attributes of
prehistoric lifestyles. Having fun is how we pay homage our evolutionary
heritage (Anderson). He proposes a conceptual matrix, which remedies and
retrieves the missing 'genetic’ conditioning lost since industrial 'specialisation’
and the multiplying of divisions of labour.
The Anderson matrix grids Epicurus’ leisure experiences in a
hierarchical order, much like Maslow's hierarchy of need or Bloom’s taxonomy.
Emotional satisfaction is perhaps optimized through a rotation of vital activities
at the depth and breadth most appropriate for the human ecological niche: e.g.,
eating, bonding, mating, exploring, hunting, learning, contemplating,
innovating. The lateral partition differentiates the external versus internal realms
of experience; the three columns characterize differing intensities of volitional
effort.
The resulting categories—sensation, adventure, mission, imagination,
communication, and speculation—Anderson regards as representing the six
fundamental routes to pleasures which invigorate the human soul. The Anderson
diagram (Figure 2) represents the grid of pleasures according to Epicurean
principles.
Anderson's Epicurean Matrix
presentation
spontaneous
interactive
proactive
sensation
adventure
mission
immediate
*
gratification,
gourmet food. sex.
art. music, garden
imagination
representation
fantasy, dream, film,
art music
exploring unknown:
new horizons, games
risk
hunting, homehunting.
all games, sport.lravel.
novnlwnting. making art
communication
speculation
shared experience.
conversation, the news,
symbolic language
lover's kiss
investment, gambling,
astrology, (fang shut ?]
Figure 2
Below are Anderson’s explanations for the tabled elements18; I present
these definitions unchanged.
Presentation: