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Hedonism - Wikipedia
Hedonism - Wikipedia
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Hedonism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most
important intrinsic goods and the proper aim of human life.[1] A hedonist strives to maximize net
pleasure (pleasure minus pain), but when finally gained of that pleasure, either through intrinsic or
extrinsic goods, happiness remains stationary.
Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve
the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. It is also the idea that every person's pleasure
should far surpass their amount of pain. Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by Aristippus
of Cyrene, a student of Socrates. He held the idea that pleasure is the highest good.[2]
Hedonism is a sub philosophy of utilitarianism, which says to act in a way that maximizes utility.
Hedonists equate pleasure with utility and believe that pleasure is the master of all humankind, and
acts as the ultimate life goal. Hedonists believe that there are only two motivators of human action,
pleasure and pain, and that decisions should only be made that further our pleasurable experiences
and minimize or completely eliminate our painful ones.[3]
Contents
1 Etymology and lexicon
2 History of development
2.1 Sumerian civilization
2.2 Ancient Egypt
2.3 Classic schools of antiquity
2.3.1 The Cyrenaic school
2.3.2 Epicureanism
2.4 Mohism
2.5 Judaism
2.6 Christian hedonism
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Utilitarianism
2.9 Contemporary approaches
2.9.1 Michel Onfray
2.9.2 Abolitionism
2.9.3 Hedonism as a scientific basis for long-term future forecasting
3 Criticisms
4 See also
5 References
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6 Further reading
7 External links
History of development
Sumerian civilization
In the original Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written soon after the
invention of writing, Siduri gave the following advice "Fill your belly. Day and night make merry.
Let days be full of joy. Dance and make music day and night [...] These things alone are the
concern of men", which may represent the first recorded advocacy of a hedonistic philosophy.[4]
Ancient Egypt
Scenes of a harper entertaining guests at a feast was common in ancient Egyptian tombs (see
Harper's Songs), and sometimes contained hedonistic elements, calling guests to submit to pleasure
because they cannot be sure that they will be rewarded for good with a blissful afterlife. The
following is a song attributed to the reign of one of the Pharoahs around the time of the 12th
dynasty, and the text was used in the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties.[5][6]
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Cyrenaicism deduces a single, universal aim for all people which is pleasure. Furthermore, all
feeling is momentary and homogeneous. It follows that past and future pleasure have no real
existence for us, and that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind.[12] Socrates had
spoken of the higher pleasures of the intellect; the Cyrenaics denied the validity of this distinction
and said that bodily pleasures, being more simple and more intense, were preferable.[13]
Momentary pleasure, preferably of a physical kind, is the only good for humans. However some
actions which give immediate pleasure can create more than their equivalent of pain. The wise
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person should be in control of pleasures rather than be enslaved to them, otherwise pain will result,
and this requires judgement to evaluate the different pleasures of life.[14] Regard should be paid to
law and custom, because even though these things have no intrinsic value on their own, violating
them will lead to unpleasant penalties being imposed by others.[13] Likewise, friendship and justice
are useful because of the pleasure they provide.[13] Thus the Cyrenaics believed in the hedonistic
value of social obligation and altruistic behaviour.
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (c. 341c. 270 BC),
founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus
and Leucippus. His materialism led him to a general stance against superstition or the idea of divine
intervention. Following Aristippusabout whom very little is knownEpicurus believed that the
greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable "pleasure" in the form of a state of tranquility and
freedom from fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain (aponia) through knowledge of the
workings of the world and the limits of our desires. The combination of these two states is
supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism,
insofar as it declares pleasure as the sole intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the
greatest pleasure and its advocacy of a simple life make it different from "hedonism" as it is
commonly understood.
Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, though later it became the main opponent of
Stoicism. Epicurus and his followers shunned politics. After the death of Epicurus, his school was
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headed by Hermarchus; later many Epicurean societies flourished in the Late Hellenistic era and
during the Roman era (such as those in Antiochia, Alexandria, Rhodes and Ercolano). The poet
Lucretius is its most known Roman proponent. By the end of the Roman Empire, having undergone
Christian attack and repression, Epicureanism had all but died out, and would be resurrected in the
17th century by the atomist Pierre Gassendi, who adapted it to the Christian doctrine.
Some writings by Epicurus have survived. Some scholars consider the epic poem On the Nature of
Things by Lucretius to present in one unified work the core arguments and theories of
Epicureanism. Many of the papyrus scrolls unearthed at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum are
Epicurean texts. At least some are thought to have belonged to the Epicurean Philodemus.
Mohism
Mohism was a Chinese philosophical school of thought founded by Mo Ti or "Mozi" in the 5th
century BC. It paralleled the utilitarianism later developed by English thinkers;. It brought
importance to the idea of universal love and extending love and kindness to all of mankind. As
Confucianism became the preferred philosophy of later Chinese dynasties, starting from the
Emperor Wu of Han, Mohism and other non-Confucian philosophical schools of thought were
suppressed.
Judaism
Judaism believes that mankind was created for pleasure, as God placed Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden - Eden being the Hebrew word for "pleasure." In recent years, Rabbi Noah
Weinberg articulated five different levels of pleasure (http://www.aish.com
/sp/f/Five_Levels_of_Pleasure.html); connecting with God is the highest possible pleasure.
Christian hedonism
Hinduism
Utilitarianism
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One school, grouped around Bentham, defends a quantitative approach. Bentham believed
that the value of a pleasure could be quantitatively understood. Essentially, he believed the
value of pleasure to be its intensity multiplied by its duration - so it was not just the number of
pleasures, but their intensity and how long they lasted that must be taken into account.
Other proponents, like Mill, argue a qualitative approach. Mill believed that there can be
different levels of pleasure - higher quality pleasure is better than lower quality pleasure. Mill
also argues that simpler beings (he often refers to pigs) have an easier access to the simpler
pleasures; since they do not see other aspects of life, they can simply indulge in their lower
pleasures. The more elaborate beings tend to spend more thought on other matters and hence
lessen the time for simple pleasure. It is therefore more difficult for them to indulge in such
"simple pleasures" in the same manner.
Contemporary approaches
Michel Onfray
A dedicated contemporary hedonist philosopher and writer on the history of hedonistic thought is
the French Michel Onfray. He has written two books directly on the subject (L'invention du plaisir :
fragments cyraniques[25] and La puissance d'exister : Manifeste hdoniste).[26] He defines
hedonism "as an introspective attitude to life based on taking pleasure yourself and pleasuring
others, without harming yourself or anyone else."[27] "Onfray's philosophical project is to define an
ethical hedonism, a joyous utilitarianism, and a generalized aesthetic of sensual materialism that
explores how to use the brain's and the body's capacities to their fullest extent -- while restoring
philosophy to a useful role in art, politics, and everyday life and decisions."[28]
Onfray's works "have explored the philosophical resonances and components of (and challenges to)
science, painting, gastronomy, sex and sensuality, bioethics, wine, and writing. His most ambitious
project is his projected six-volume Counter-history of Philosophy,"[28] of which three have been
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In a talk David Pearce gave at the Future of Humanity Institute and at the Charity International
'Happiness Conference' he said "Sadly, what won't abolish suffering, or at least not on its own, is
socio-economic reform, or exponential economic growth, or technological progress in the usual
sense, or any of the traditional panaceas for solving the world's ills. Improving the external
environment is admirable and important; but such improvement can't recalibrate our hedonic
treadmill above a genetically constrained ceiling. Twin studies confirm there is a [partially]
heritable set-point of well-being - or ill-being - around which we all tend to fluctuate over the
course of a lifetime. This set-point varies between individuals. [It's possible to lower an individual's
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hedonic set-point by inflicting prolonged uncontrolled stress; but even this re-set is not as easy as it
sounds: suicide-rates typically go down in wartime; and six months after a quadriplegia-inducing
accident, studies suggest that we are typically neither more nor less unhappy than we were before
the catastrophic event.] Unfortunately, attempts to build an ideal society can't overcome this
biological ceiling, whether utopias of the left or right, free-market or socialist, religious or secular,
futuristic high-tech or simply cultivating one's garden. Even if everything that traditional futurists
have asked for is delivered - eternal youth, unlimited material wealth, morphological freedom,
superintelligence, immersive VR, molecular nanotechnology, etc - there is no evidence that our
subjective quality of life would on average significantly surpass the quality of life of our hunter-
gatherer ancestors - or a New Guinea tribesman today - in the absence of reward pathway
enrichment. This claim is difficult to prove in the absence of sophisticated neuroscanning; but
objective indices of psychological distress e.g. suicide rates, bear it out. Unenhanced humans will
still be prey to the spectrum of Darwinian emotions, ranging from terrible suffering to petty
disappointments and frustrations - sadness, anxiety, jealousy, existential angst. Their biology is part
of "what it means to be human". Subjectively unpleasant states of consciousness exist because they
were genetically adaptive. Each of our core emotions had a distinct signalling role in our
evolutionary past: they tended to promote behaviours that enhanced the inclusive fitness of our
genes in the ancestral environment."[34]
Russian physicist and philosopher Victor Argonov argues that hedonism is not only a philosophical
but also a verifiable scientific hypothesis. In 2014 he suggested "postulates of pleasure principle"
confirmation of which would lead to a new scientific discipline, hedodynamics. Hedodynamics
would be able to forecast the distant future development of human civilization and even the
probable structure and psychology of other rational beings within the universe.[35] In order to build
such a theory, science must discover the neural correlate of pleasure - neurophysiological parameter
unambiguously corresponding to the feeling of pleasure (hedonic tone).
Many other aspects of posthuman society can be predicted by hedodynamics if neural correlate of
pleasure will be discovered. For example, optimal number of individuals, their optimal body size
(whether it matters for happiness or not) and the degree of aggression.
Criticisms
Critics of hedonism have objected to its exclusive concentration on pleasure as valuable.
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In particular, G. E. Moore offered a thought experiment in criticism of pleasure as the sole bearer of
value: he imagined two worlds - one of exceeding beauty and the other a heap of filth. Neither of
these worlds will be experienced by anyone. The question, then, is if it is better for the beautiful
world to exist than the heap of filth. In this Moore implied that states of affairs have value beyond
conscious pleasure, which he said spoke against the validity of hedonism. [37]
See also
Affectionism
Eudaimonia
Hedonism Resorts
Libertine
Paradox of hedonism
Pleasure principle (psychology)
Psychological hedonism
References
Notes
1. "Hedonism". stanford.edu.
2. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 6. p. 567.
3. Is Ignorance Really Bliss? Raquino, Jayson 2016
4. , (2012). :
. 2. . pp. 184185.
5. Wilson, John A. (1969). "Egyptian Secular Songs and Poems". Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to
the Old Testament. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 467.
6. , (2012). :
. 2. . p. 185.
7. p. 125, C.C.W. Taylor, "Democritus", in C. Rowe & M. Schofield (eds.), Greek and Roman Political
Thought, Cambridge 2005.
8. Diogenes Lartius, ii. 86
9. Reale & Catan 1986, p. 274
10. Copleston 2003, p. 121
11. Reale & Catan 1986, pp. 2745
12. Annas 1995, p. 230
13. Annas 1995, p. 231
14. Copleston 2003, p. 122
15. O'Keefe, Tim (2005). Epicurus on Freedom. Cambridge University Press. p. 134.
16. Epicurus Principal Doctrines (http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/princdoc.html) tranls. by Robert Drew
Hicks (1925)
17. "Christian Hedonism". Desiring God.
18. Jonathan Edwards, A treatise concerning religious affections (Dublin: J. Ogle, 1812)on Google Book on
July 26, 2009) (https://books.google.com/books?id=99cHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&
source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0(accessed)
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19. Companion Encyclopaedia of Hindu Philosophy: An Exposition of the Principle [sic] Religio-
philosophical Systems and an Examination of Different Schools of Thought. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd.
p. 252.
20. Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Routledge. p. 464.
21. , Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology for Edexcel A2 Biology 2009.
22. Torbjrn Tnnsj; Hedonistic Utilitarianism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (1998).
23. Fred Feldman(2006). Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and Plausibility of
Hedonism. Oxford University Press and (1997). Utilitarianism, Hedonism, and Desert: Essays in Moral
Philosophy. Cambridge University Press
24. "Manifiesto hedonista". google.com.
25. "L'invention du plaisir. : Fragments cyrnaques Le Livre de Poche Biblio: Amazon.es: Michel Onfray:
Libros en idiomas extranjeros". amazon.es.
26. "Manifeste hdoniste: Amazon.fr: Michel Onfray: Livres". amazon.fr.
27. "Atheism la mode". newhumanist.org.uk.
28. Introductory Note to Onfray by Doug Ireland (http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue40/Ireland40.htm)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090427113134/http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue40
/Ireland40.htm) 27 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
29. "Archives from 1948 - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". unesco.org.
30. "A-Infos (en) France, Media, Michel Onfray, A self labeled Anarchist Philosoph". ainfos.ca. horizontal
tab character in |title= at position 13 (help)
31. "The Hedonistic Imperative".
32. "The Genomic Bodhisattva". H+ Magazine. 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
33. "Criao animal intensiva. Um outro Holocausto?". Revista do Instituto Humanitas Unisinos. 2011.
34. admin@abolitionist.com. "The Abolitionist Project". abolitionist.com. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
35. Victor Argonov (2014). "The Pleasure Principle as a Tool for Scientific Forecasting of Human
Self-Evolution". Journal of Evolution and thechnology. 24: 6378.
36. Victor Argonov (2008). "Artificial programming of human motivations: A way to degradation or rapid
development?". Questions of Philosophy (in Russian). 12: 2237.
37. "Hedonism". utm.edu.
Sources
Further reading
Fred Feldman (2006). Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and
Plausibility of Hedonism. Oxford University Press.
Fred Feldman (1997). Utilitarianism, Hedonism, and Desert: Essays in Moral Philosophy.
Cambridge University Press
Fred Feldman (2010). What Is This Thing Called Happiness?. Oxford University Press
Michel Onfray (2002). L'invention du plaisir : fragments cyraniques. Le Livre de Poche.
Michel Onfray (2006). La puissance d'exister : Manifeste hdoniste. Grasset & Fasquelle
David Pearce. The Hedonistic Imperative[1]
Torbjrn Tnnsj (1998). Hedonistic Utilitarianism. Edinburgh University Press
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External links
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry Wikiquote has
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/) quotations related to:
Manifesto of the Hedonist International (http://hedonist- Hedonism
international.org/?q=en/manifest/)
Dolson, Grace Neal (1920). "Hedonism". Encyclopedia Look up hedonism in
Americana. Wiktionary, the free
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, volume 6, page dictionary.
567
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