See this comment for one way in which they seem different.
In my writings on tranquilism, I also tried to show that there are important differences in function. This part is a bit complicated to explain because there seem to be (at least) two different systems involved in our decision-making.
1. When I am feeling agenty, the machinery in my brain responsible for rational thought and long-term planning can look at pleasure-pain tradeoffs dispassionately and choose whichever course of action seems most appealing, all-things-considered. (For what it’s worth, I think that because people differ with respect to their approach and inhibition tendencies, there’s no hope to figure out the “true best way” to make tradeoffs of this sort.)
2. When I’m feeling non-agenty, I’m tempted to go the way of least resistance, impulsively pursuing short-term “pleasures” over long-term goals.
Now, I think when we look mostly at 1. (“agenty mode”), it seems as though pleasure and pain are symmetrical.
However, the roles are very different for 2. (“impulsive mode”). Suffering is the driving force behind 2. When you’re in 2., the goal is not pleasure maximization. Instead, you just want the dissatisfaction to stop, somehow. Different ways of accomplishing that count for the same as far as your impulsive mode is concerned.
See this comment for one way in which they seem different.
In my writings on tranquilism, I also tried to show that there are important differences in function. This part is a bit complicated to explain because there seem to be (at least) two different systems involved in our decision-making.
1. When I am feeling agenty, the machinery in my brain responsible for rational thought and long-term planning can look at pleasure-pain tradeoffs dispassionately and choose whichever course of action seems most appealing, all-things-considered. (For what it’s worth, I think that because people differ with respect to their approach and inhibition tendencies, there’s no hope to figure out the “true best way” to make tradeoffs of this sort.)
2. When I’m feeling non-agenty, I’m tempted to go the way of least resistance, impulsively pursuing short-term “pleasures” over long-term goals.
Now, I think when we look mostly at 1. (“agenty mode”), it seems as though pleasure and pain are symmetrical.
However, the roles are very different for 2. (“impulsive mode”). Suffering is the driving force behind 2. When you’re in 2., the goal is not pleasure maximization. Instead, you just want the dissatisfaction to stop, somehow. Different ways of accomplishing that count for the same as far as your impulsive mode is concerned.