We strive for something, which is building up tension, and once we are able to do it, there is a relief of that tension, which feels pleasurable. We do this repeatedly until we die.
A footballer strives to score a goal. As long as there is none, frustration is felt. When they score, that frustration is replaced by intense happiness.
Or am I wrong?
Anyone who's been to a nil, uneventful football match has felt this.
A footballer strives to score a goal. During the game, the footballer collides with an opponent and hits his head. He has a concussion and won't be able to play for the rest of the game, and frustration is felt.
Is this different from the scenario you described? Is the frustration in the presence of unpleasure the same as frustration in the absence of pleasure?
But Wilhelm Reich doesn't really follow a utilitarian calculus. I.e., for him pleasure is not the equal yet opposite of unpleasure. Rather, the calculus is one of material tension and release, or intensity, which I think you get at quite well in your example.
And yeah, if Marx, Bataille, and Spinoza are called philosophers, I guess we can call this a philosophical thought as well. Though it certainly reaches beyond the bounds of philosophy into psychoanalysis, biology, and cybernetics.