Through out a person's life, they will make billions of decision that affect them. But why do they make the decisions they do? I believe every decision made is in the pursuit of pleasure, or the avoidance of pain. In other words, the ultimate goal of life is to obtain pleasure or happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Humans spend their entire lives following this philosophy whether they realize it or not. This philosophy is called Hedonism and philosophers have split it into two branches; one being ethical hedonism and the other psychological hedonism. .
Ethical Hedonism is the view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness. It is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (342-270 BCE.) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. In Epicurus" A Letter to Menoeceus, one of his only surviving fragments, Epicurus gives advice on how to decrease life's pains and describes the nature of human pleasure. "We recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good." (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus). Epicureans believe that every pain is bad and should be avoided, whereas every pleasure is grand and should be sought after. Therefore, when making choices, man should strive to attain the most pleasure possible, to seek ataraxia (peace of mind, or intellectual pleasure).
Psychological Hedonism is the view that humans are psychologically constructed in such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure. With Psychological Hedonism there exist three sub-sections of it: "Goal is Pleasure", stating that a person will only do something if they believe it will either cause them pleasure or avoid pain. "Motivation by Pleasant Thoughts", where a person would choose to do A rather then B if and only if the thought of A is more attractive or less distasteful.
Hedonism vs Religion In religion, groups of people have their own perspectives. ... This type of approach toward life is Hedonism. Hedonism is a belief stating, "life is not promised to you." ... Hedonism is a great example of good religion, and bad religion. ...
Later on I will compare the similarities and differences of hedonism and desire satisfaction theory. ... The main difference between hedonism and desire satisfaction theory is that in hedonism the only intrinsic good is pleasure, but for desire satisfaction there are multiple elements, or desires, that are applicable to making life good. Another difference between desire satisfaction and hedonism is that the outside world affects desire satisfaction but does not affect hedonism. ... The good part about hedonism being so vague is that it allows for many models to the good life. The third stren...
Andrew Moore (2004) states psychological hedonism claims, our only motivation is pain and pleasure, while ethical hedonism claims only pleasure has worth and only pain has disvalue. For this paper, I will discuss hedonism as a general topic. ... The final aspect, extension to others, is important, because otherwise hedonism would justify such things as rape and murder Hedonism's effectiveness can be put to the test through thought experiments. ... Hedonism's position on the Happy Sadist thought experiment is morally correct. Another well worn thought experiment used when discussin...
There two types of hedonist theories of happiness; the narrow hedonism and the preference hedonism. ... Later, it is argued that preference hedonism is a more plausible theory compared to narrow hedonism. ... However, happiness hedonism also split into two different categories, the narrow hedonism which is defended by Bentham and Mill, and the preference hedonism which is associated with Sidgwick. ... He sees the way that hedonism, especially narrow hedonism, defines happiness in terms of 'pleasure' and 'pain' as too simplistic. ... Preference hedonism uses different defin...
The basis of this is Hedonism which means ethical principle holding that only what is pleasant or has pleasant consequences is mostly good. There are four points to hedonism which are; Psychological hedonism - people do seek happiness - so do what will make them happy, ethical hedonism - you have a duty to be happy therefore you ought to be happy, egotistical hedonism - do what makes yourself happy and altruistic hedonism meaning do what makes others happy. ...
The process on how one should handle each decision process in the situations will be examined using ethical frameworks and ethical theories, mainly egoism and hedonism. ... " Both ethical egoism and hedonism are similar in the fact that they are both concerned with the pursuit of personal happiness/pleasure. ... Yet, according to ethical hedonism one should also take into account the happiness of others. ... Yet, using hedonism one must take into account the happiness of the other people involved. Using hedonism to examine the situation saving your niece first since she is strugglin...
Humans are constructed and preprogrammed to be psychologically hedonistic and what does Hedonism mean in the eye of a philosopher is that Philosophers see hedonism as ethical and psychological. Ethical hedonism is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher and poet Epicurus (342-270BCE) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. (Epicurus) Psychological hedonism states that humans are constructed such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure and we are tirelessly on a quest for happiness. ...
Eudaimonia is also often compared to hedonism, but, again, this is a misunderstanding. Hedonism is self centered, focusing on the the attainment of brief satisfaction through material and physical things, while eudaimonia is other centered, emphasising life fulfillment. ... This longing for mine was not contained like hedonism, but it was rather shared, for in book 1 chapter 7 Aristotle reiterates that "Human good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete....
Lord Wotton also shared his philosophy of seeking pleasure called new Hedonism. ... Gray begins his life of new Hedonism and indulges in immoral activities that would satisfy his primal urges. ... During Dorian Gray's expedition of experiencing new Hedonism, he spent much time exploring the slums of London. ... His journey into new Hedonism had left him seeking only pleasure and did not feel for those in pain around him. ...
