Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology

College of Arts and Social Sciences

Department of Philosophy and Humanities

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

in Writing Methods in Applied Ethics

WHY DOES IT FEEL SO GOOD WHEN IT IS SO WRONG: A PHILOSOPHICAL TAKE ON GUILTY

PLEASURES UNDER THE FRAMEWORK OF EPICUREANISM

Submitted by:

Zefra Gaezenne F. Girado

Submitted to:

Association Professor Fernando Garingo, MA

Chairperson, Department of Philosophy and Humanities

December 2022

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Abstract

This study aims to answer the question "why does it feel so good when it is so wrong", you

may call it "guilty pleasure" as it gives us pleasure but at the same time guilty, usually defined by

addictive, repetitive hobbies where one is consciously aware of their decisions at the very moment.

The method being used to answer the question is by analysis through reading different articles that

answer questions that were made by me, that leads up to what I believe is my truth to whether how

the problem happens and additionally whether guilty pleasures are immoral or moral in

consideration also to the framework being used, Epicureanism by Epicurus. After a sequence of

analysis and thinking through, the results yielded a satisfactory answer. It feels good because you

enjoy the pleasure at the very moment and the effects it comes with right after. But the moment

those effects or "static" pleasures dry up, we are left with self-reflect, and specifically, if we reflect

that our pleasures do not express virtue, express arrogance, and selfishness (which can be

determined through eudaimonia and hedonia happiness), we feel guilty. Guilt lasts until one does

something about it, therefore, causes an individual to have an unpleasant regretful life which goes

against Epicurus' philosophy "The only essential thing in our life is our pleasure” therefore, guilty

pleasures are immoral in the Epicurean sense. In this case, guilty pleasures are defined as what you

feel after the pleasure is done and not as an addictive, repetitive hobby where one is consciously

aware of one’s decisions.

Keywords: Guilty Pleasure, Epicureanism, Epicurus, Virtues, Immoral

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Introduction

We, humans, normally connect our morals with our happiness. We do things that would

make people or personally make us happy. We avoid what has a negative impact on our lives

because naturally, we attract to what we desire. Firstly, focusing more on our happiness rather than

our morals, why exactly do we do things that make us happy? People usually would say it sets a good

example to others, you are able to be at your best, it increases your confidence to the point

insecurities has no place to sink in, and most commonly. People would say they choose what makes

them happy because they deserve it. That being said, that would mean satisfying your pleasures,

which leads to happiness, is a choice. It raises the question of whether morality is universal or

dependent on our happiness.

Hence, there are instances when our pleasures defy general morals. The saying “why does it

feel so good when it feels so wrong” embodies that. We know pre-marital sex is wrong according to

the Roman Catholic Bible, and yet people do it out of influence, recreation, or plainly curiosity. Even

at a young age, children are accountable for animal cruelty despite being taught not to treat animals

as objects. I personally have experienced such at a young age, the difference was that I did it out of

curiosity, in the events of post-hurting my cat, I felt bad and did not do it again whereas, for other

children, this develops until they grow older. Poor people tend to steal to survive, this is also another

case of feeding our pleasures. It is not the stealing, the satisfaction of getting away from doing

something wrong that pleasures us but rather what happens after the events of stealing it. They live

for another day because of the choice they made even though this was a problem for storeowners or

grocery shops. Pleasures are not just about ‘wants’ but also ‘needs’. In general, they give us

happiness when we acquire them.

All these I have said sound too Hedonistic, if the world truly practiced hedonistic values, the

world would have been in anarchy or chaos. I would like to introduce to you the term

“Epicureanism”. It is much like Hedonism but the difference is that in order to experience pleasure,

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hedonists will go to any lengths, regardless of what is ethically acceptable or immoral; Epicureans

will not. Epicureanism advises that while we should pursue pleasure, we shouldn't overindulge in it.

Epicureanism is a type of Consequentialism, which is under Utilitarianism. Since Epicureanism is too

broad, the thinker I have chosen is Epicurus, his main philosophy is: “The only essential thing in our

life is our pleasure, other than that, it only has value because it is a tool to secure our personal

pleasure”. The purpose of this study is to help us why does doing certain things feels good when it is

wrong.

Epicureanism will help us determine why trying to feed our happiness sometimes feels

wrong. This study will be able to conclude whether our morality is indeed universal or is only

because the majority, not all, people find it pleasurable/unpleasant; although mining can bring

pleasure to the economy of the Philippines and provide job opportunities to Filipinos, it also harms

the environment and risk to the workers if so ever the cave collapses. Epicureanism can also help us

be able to pick choices that will maximize our happiness but also lessen the unsolicited pain that

comes with it, or at most, try to avoid it so everyone will be happy.

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 Before we start, I would like to clarify first what I mean by pleasure and happiness when I

say it. Personally, I believe pleasure is the feeling you get while doing the act and happiness is the

feeling you get after doing it. I believe it to be this case because not all the time does what we are

doing gives us pleasure but it does gives us happiness after doing it. You could say that pleasure is

the verb for happiness since there is no such word as "happyieng"

Let us now begin, we often wonder if pleasure is even something we humans need, better

yet, let us put out the question "What is pleasure's purpose to us humans?". My thought is that

pleasure gives us a sense of purpose because if it means us doing something enjoyable, it makes us

realize what we are truly passionate about in life. This is evident by the Amaha Health article, which

states we humans are able to determine either of the two sensations on how we let our level of

happiness be affected; pointlessness and purposes. 1 Although I agree that happiness gives us a sense

of purpose, I find it awry to say that if we feel pointless or unhappy then there is no purpose in what

we are doing. I personally find exercising and studying tiresome but when we get our targeted body

and grade, we feel happy, we feed on the result of our sufferings. Does pleasure take into account

suffering if it means we enjoyed the result of it? Nonetheless, that question is for you readers to

ponder because we are here to answer something else. Secondly, I would also like to think that

pleasure is a means to humble ourselves with what we have. Unlike what I have defined before

where enjoying is equivalent to finding your passion. In my second thought, to enjoy means to be

able to find the positive/good in events/things. To be contented in the small things. This is backed up

by the idea of a website called Sixty and Me by Julia Griffin, stating to have pleasure is to have a

value of a certain commodity; to be eager to do it 2. I certainly do agree that we should learn to enjoy

the little things, however, are you willing to enjoy life if you don't appreciate the things that are

deserving to you at the moment? Life will always give you a taste of what you dream of but if you do

not appreciate the bits of crumbs being given to you, then you don't deserve the whole buffet. Like I

said before, the process may not give you joy or pleasure but you must learn to value what it holds

for you in the present or future. Besides giving us a sense of purpose and humbling ourselves, I find

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pleasure to be the one that provides satisfaction or strength to us all even in hardships and it should

be pleasant when doing so or else it would not work. On a website called Psychology Today, Meg

Sellg, the author, credited Cynthia Vinney for saying pleasure gives us a positive effect, contentment,

pride. Even if they are for a fleeting moment, they help us get through the day. 3Out of all purposes I

have pointed out. This seems to be the most relatable one. Every one of us is just a sad soul, looking

for reasons to make the next day worth breathing for. Now that I have stated different opinions of

the purposes of pleasure, I have concluded that the purpose of pleasure, (the act) to us humans is to

see whether it is justified in accordance with what we feel by the end of it. I take pleasure in joining

pageants, why I take pleasure is that I enjoy being able to voice out concerns that need to be

addressed, and the mere fact people are amazed by my intelligence and giving me credit for it is

what gives me the strength to keep going at it, it is the reason why I love it, a sense of validity. But

not all the time, being reminded of the upcoming coronation, being conscious of my body, and the

financial budget needed is tiring but I know there is value if I keep going. If by the end of the pageant

journey, I do feel not happy because the value I anticipated has not been met then I believe my

pleasure in joining one is not justified, why would you join a contest if it does not even give you

happiness by the end of it? If I do feel happy, regardless of a loss, then I believe it is justified to take

pleasure in joining pageants.

We have now established the purpose of pleasure to us humans; justifying our pleasures

with the outcome of our feelings; if we are happy in the end, it is in our nature but if not, it is not

meant for us. I should now ask, how should pleasure be formed? After a series of skimming articles, I

borrowed an idea from an article called Deaking University, the author, Mahdi Babaei, stated that

the joyful experience of adopting a wearable device can result in happiness. He defines adoption as

pleasure itself. There are about 4 forms of pleasure: Physio-pleasure, Psycho-pleasure, Socio-

pleasure, and Ideo-pleasure. A short description of each to make it understandable. Physio-pleasure

is the physical and the tactile, derived or enjoyed through the senses. It is smell, touch, taste, feel,

and sensuality. Socio-pleasure comes from interacting with and relating to other people. It is about

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social status, belonging, and communication. Psycho-pleasure is all about the mind and intellect. It is

about how easy something is to understand, or how mentally stimulating it is to engage with. Ideo-

pleasure relates to people’s values and aspirations. These could be religious, moral, or aesthetic

concerns. The environment or animal welfare. 4 It is evident that we have different causes for our

pleasure, but what intrigues me is Psycho-pleasure. What has Psycho-pleasure got to do with the

formation of pleasure? My idea is that our minds tend to anticipate the things we want to do or as I

defined it, our pleasures. Even the anticipation or imagination itself is mentally stimulating, how

much more if we actually did it? So we believe the things we anticipate to do is a good idea, no

matter if it has unsolicited pains in them, we focus more on how it will justify our speculated

feelings. Thus, I conclude that our pleasure is a manifestation of our imaginations because we feel

the need to do it, to satisfy our happiness.

Since we have now determined that pleasure is a manifestation of our pleasure, I ponder the

question of whether it should be self-caused or not. To say self-caused would mean you are the

reason why the pleasure is being manifested and not because of others. Recently I attended an

event at my university, we celebrated world Philosophy Day. There was a lecture and miraculously,

the Philosopher being discussed was the one that I have chosen, Epicurus. After the lecture, there

was an open forum to which I asked Professor Joseph Abraham V. Bibal "Should pleasure be self-

caused? An example would be breaking up with your partner because you know doing so would

make you happy if they're happy" to which he replied that "If someone asked you to kiss them,

would you want to? Would you be happy? I do not think so". I was not satisfied at first as I had a

different anticipated answer such as the cases of Schadenfreude and compersion but after a full-on

reflection, I had come to a realization that the way he said it actually stays true to how I defined

pleasure. It would not make me happy if the pleasure I was doing was demanded and not intended.

The reason why I'm doing pleasure is that I want to and not because others want me to. There are

numerous opinions as to why being influenced is good but in the matter of our own happiness, it's

always the same opinion. An article from Forbes stated that mimicking other people's choices, not

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taking time to decide for yourself, and being on autopilot is not really the best decision-making tool

ever.5 I am a firm believer it is up to us to decide what can and may make us happy, after all, we

know ourselves better than anyone. Pleasures should be the manifestation of our imaginations, not

by others but rather by our feeling the need to do so. You won't be happy if that person forces you

to do it, thus it is not natural nor meant for you.

Guilty pleasures have been deemed to be minor and harmless pleasures. One of the many

common guilty pleasures is eating too much, addiction to movies, procrastination, and listening to a

song over and over. But we must first define what defines guilty According to a website called Good

Therapy, it is defined as guilt is the feeling of being responsible for something bad that has

happened (to you or other people) or knowing your actions were bad. A feeling of regret is usually

followed after. 6Knowing that this does exist, I ponder, when does it become immoral then? Eating,

watching movies, and repeating certain actions are nothing compared to sadists who take pleasure

in seeing people suffer. I also must clarify that guilty pleasures and addiction are nowhere near, as

addiction is defined as causing mental and physical harm to the person. There are people who

believe that guilty pleasure does not exist. On a website called New York Times by Micaela Marini

Higgs, she wrote why should we ever feel guilty about something that makes us happy? We should

be able to do anything that makes us happy so long as it is done in moderation. These so-called

guilty pleasures may actually be good for us. 7 I do believe we must do anything to pursue our

happiness and not let anyone be the judge or cause of that. I go along with her idea that we must be

moderate but moderation is defined as the avoidance of excess. Supposedly a murderer will kill

victims twice a year to satisfy his/her cravings, 2 is not a lot, it is not excessive therefore is the guilty

pleasure justified? That is why we should turn to Aristotle's and Immanuel Kant's Ideas of guilty

pleasures. On a website called The New Yorker, an article talks about Aristotle defining pleasure

done with honorable action as virtue whereas pleasure done with evil action as vice. Now Kant, in

his Critique of Judgement believed that guilty pleasures have an element of gratification, meaning

having guilty pleasures will always make us do pleasures because we feel the need to do so. But Kant

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believes that the mind and body are separated, the mind does not desire, it has its own needs that

will be naturally met, unlike bodies that will desire always, our guilty pleasures. He remarks that our

bodily needs are messy, materialistic, and demanding, therefore should not be trusted. 8At this

point, I would have had a conclusion regarding guilty pleasures but I believe it will only be answered

once we talk about Epicurus' different types of pleasure so that we may differentiate what can be

bodily pleasures and mental pleasures.

A lot of people choose to be happy, in fact, there is even a famous quote for it - "Happiness

is a choice". If so, why cannot be it a predetermined choice then? My thought is that in our day-to-

day lives, anything can happen that will make us sad, angry, jealous and etc. It is up to us at that very

last moment before we show any of our emotions and choose to be happy or not. We choose to do

so because we believe either it is not worth ruining the day you tried making good or it is for the

better. This is evident in an article from Happiness, crediting Abraham Lincoln's phrase “We are only

happy if we make our minds believe it” and additionally explaining that happiness is indeed a choice

because you choose to work for it, happiness requires dedication, time and effort in order to keep

it9. But despite this, I still find my question unanswered, Predetermination includes heavy

justification of one's reason to choose happiness. Even before you do your pleasures, whatever it

may bring about to you, you are already choosing to be happy. I know I said your happiness justifies

your pleasures but will it now be validly considered you already predetermined it? I have done

things in my life, pleasures where in that exact moment I thought I was genuinely happy and

believed that it was all I needed after a long. But at the end of the day, it was just nothing at all. I'm

back to where I was again before the day started. Does this justify what I did at that time? Was it

necessary? My conclusion is that the least you expect to be happy, the more you will be happier

because the moment you start expecting that you will be happier once you manifest your pleasures,

you would be just comparing the real-life event to the one you imagined, leading to

disappointments.

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 It does not mean that when we are doing pleasure, it always leads to happiness, this is

evident in cases where we believe dating other people after break up would make us happier or

pursuing a course we thought would stabilize us would make us feel contented. I would like to ask

then what are factors that do not lead to happiness? According to Epicurus, from a website called

Internet Encyclopedia Philosophy, we have different types of desire: natural and necessary desires,

natural but non-necessary desires, and “vain and empty” desires. Natural and necessary desires are

easy to satisfy as they are commodities that are needed for a human to survive, it is hardwired into

humans. Vain and empty desires are the opposite, hard to satisfy as they do not have limits and is

not even necessary for humans to survive. Natural but non-necessary are not such bad desires, I

think, as they only mean nonnecessary as in quantity or quality 10. It is natural to have sex but not

necessarily to have kids, although St Thomas Aquinas' Natural Theory would say otherwise, this is

what Epicurus believes. It is natural to want food but not necessarily to eat one that is expensive. I

might say the reason why we sometimes do not feel happy after our pleasure is because what we

are always chasing are vain and empty desires and that is why Epicurus says that these types of

desires should be eliminated but I say otherwise. I say so because I myself am someone who rose to

the popularity of my own accord. I grew up not being acknowledged by my own family and fame has

given me that sense of validity when I share my opinion. If it means making me happy and making

me a better person, should I erase it in my life since it's plain vain and empty as Epicurus says? I do

get the fact that it is hard to satisfy ourselves with this type of desire as it cannot be limited but if

one is truly only pleasuring themselves because it gives them a sense of purpose, justifies what they

feel as it justified how I felt unacknowledged then one can be satisfied with vain and so-called empty

desires. In my current position in society, it may be hypocritical as I am still not satisfied and aim to

be more popular but the feeling, the sense of validity is still there and my goal has gone higher as in I

might want to pursue a pageant in national grounds or that I want to make Philosophy be known

that it is not just merely asking "What is the essence of a chair". So long as the vain desires justify

your happiness and give you a sense of purpose, it is okay to pursue them.

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 With that being said, when can we say the happiness of a person is valued? Is valid? Of

course, the happiness of sadists and psychopaths is never valid and valued but I cannot also say in

detail when a person's happiness is valid because our happiness is subjective to our own. It is

important that we value happiness as it can help us manage when our life goes dark and connect

with other people, according to a website called The Guardian. I have borrowed an idea from

Aristotle and his concept of Eudaimonic happiness. Summarizing websites from Positive Psychology,

Science Direct, and Very Well Mind. Eudaimonia is when your happiness comes from virtue and

meaning, living up to personal ideals and concern for others. You take joy in self-growth and self-

actualization. The acts(pleasure) you do express virtue. Hedonic is when your happiness comes from

immediate sensual pleasures, doing what you think is personally good or will make you happy.

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Things you personally want and counting also the pleasant effects of owning those things. You

might say that in order for our happiness to be valid, it must come from eudaimonia happiness, I

agree too but I personally believe you one cannot attain eudaimonia without hedonic happiness.

Eudaimonia happiness in this instance would be the result of hedonic activities. One cannot savor

the fruits of friendship without having to go out in the world and socialize. One cannot enjoy

volunteering if one does not even enjoy helping others in the first place. I would like to think hedonic

happiness that defines our intention to gain a certain eudaimonia happiness. Let us say you

socialized to make friendships but for the sake to enjoy the benefits that come with who your

friends are, as in politics or other connections you may possibly have. You became a volunteer for

the sake of popularity. I thus conclude, that in order for your happiness to be valid, eudaimonia and

hedonic happiness must both coexist.

Crab mentality has been a social issue for some quite time. It is defined as pulling anyone

who is able to achieve what you could not achieve 14, by Philippine Competition Commission. In

regards to that, sometimes happiness can come really easy to us, too easy that it may even seem

wrong for us to be happy when the whole world is suffering or a circle of friends is having a hard

time. In my current position in class, I was told I was doing perfectly well. After that, I was gushing

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with happiness and pride, and then I saw my friends, all gloomy and I knew what it meant for them.

But still, my happiness could not be contained, all I could do was just smile and ask them for theirs.

Of course, when they asked for mine, I downgraded what I really felt so I could be sensitive to them.

The question now I ponder on, was I wrong for being happy? According to the article Your Tango, by

Ann Papayoti, there is nothing wrong if it is what you actually feel because your life satisfaction

depends on it. It can help boost your confidence and find success in almost everything. 15Although

according also to an article by Linkedin, by Felicity Walter that despite us being sensitive, we must

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also share our happiness because at that moment, being happy is too much work for them. Thus, I

conclude, along with my past sentiments about the validity of happiness, that being happy while

others are not, is not immoral, so long as what you are happy about expresses virtue and it is not

with malicious intent. It may be too idealistic for me to say this but one can only have their

happiness be valid or with value, if there was no malicious intent towards it, and it actually makes

you happy, in a way that gives you a sense of purpose in order to justify your pleasures.

I shall now start introducing Epicurus and his philosophy. Epicurus, according to the Internet

Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Epicurus introduced Moving Pleasure and Static Pleasure, they are tied

closely when satisfying one's desire17. Moving pleasure is described as how I described it, it is the

feeling you have when you are doing your pleasures. Meanwhile, static pleasure is the feeling you

have once your act of pleasure is done. It is the state of satiety, no longer in need or want. 18In the

case of pageantry, my moving pleasure would be the photo or video shoots, rehearsals, and mock

questions and answers. My static pleasure would be the feeling I have when I finish the coronation,

whether I win or not, that is the static pleasure. If you were to eat, the moving pleasure would be

eating and the static pleasure would be feeling full after eating. You might wonder why I bother

mentioning moving pleasure if it is the same as my definition of pleasure. You see, Epicurus defines

his moving pleasure solely on action plus feelings. I define my pleasure, along with the past things

that I have said, that pleasure has different types of happiness which are Eudaimonia and Hedonia.

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To reiterate, eudaimonia and hedonia happiness can help us see whether your pleasures express

virtues ppleasure helps you see whether your pleasures are justified or are meant for you

Since we have established that after our pleasures, there comes a static pleasure, the state

of satiety but can this satiety be given or should it be acquired? Would it even be your happiness if it

was because another person felt happy? According to the website Pursuit of Happiness, happiness is

not limited to us. It can be a public affair when we help pursue another one to be happy. 19

It does make me wonder when can our pleasures be a vice. After a series of searching, I

almost believed there was no such vice for Epicurus. I found a website Society of Epicurus which

states that the vice we humans may have is being arrogant and unreasonable. It is a moral disease so

as to say. 20Someone who will always believe they are above everyone, who knows it all, and who is

hateful towards everyone. They are full of negativity and will not live pleasant life. I believe when

you do pleasures with arrogance in your head then it will become a vice to do such pleasures.

For us to differentiate whether pleasure is a want or a need, Epicurus had already

differentiated necessary and natural desires, natural but non-necessary, and vain and empty desires.

If pleasure gives us a sense of purpose and helps us see whether it is natural for us to do by how our

feelings justify it even if it is vain that we seek, then it is a need since it gives satisfaction to the

person. If not, this may lead the person to be unsatisfied with life and thus not have a pleasant life

which is against Epicurus' philosophy

But what about morality? Can we ask how does one's pleasure say about their morality? Are

they always bad for being selfish? Firstly, considering what I have said over the past paragraphs, I

would say that it does because should your pleasures express virtues and show no malicious intent

because you are being arrogant, then I believe it would be selfish, but as Epicurus said, you could

always help one another attain their pleasures and desires and that I believe would distinct from the

latter of being selfish.

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 Since we have based our morality on the majority, should we believe the right ones are

where the happiest people are? It is a fact that morality is a social contract and so according to

Wesleyan University, the opinion of morality from the minors should not be considered, as they are

just another result of ethical relativism. 21

If we base our pleasures on other people's happiness or sadness, how will this affect our way

of giving ethical judgments? I believe this to be a problem because we cannot always base our

decisions because of other people but not to the point that we stop the pursuit of our happiness. An

article by Technician Online stated that the common advice “so long as no one is affected, it is okay

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to do it" is invalid because no matter what, how small or big it may be, there will always be

someone who will be affected, even if you did not know them personally. This may be a reason why

we should refer to what the majority says so that we may avoid being called "selfish" but instead

being self-centered, because at least we put consideration for others 23, according to how Pediaa

defines it. But then, basing your pleasures on other people's desires is insufficient for us individuals

so personally, I think it to be more of an unpopular opinion rather than a wrong opinion, a "hard pill

to swallow" although this could be also a hard pill for me to swallow also. An article by Women

Taking the Lead states that we should always make our pleasures by basing them on values 24, as I've

stated before. We should always stick to pleasure that expresses eudaimonia happiness. Thus, I

conclude that for necessary and natural desires, we should always consider the pleasures of other

people's desires. For natural and non-necessary, and vain desires we can put our own pleasures first

without considering other people's desires so long as we base them on our values and it expresses

eudaimonia happiness.

I am at my limits and have finally reached my last question before answering the question

"why does it feel so good when it is so wrong". Could it be the waring off of our happiness or is it the

pleasure itself that helps us realize that it was immoral or moral? My answer is the first one. After

our temporary happiness, we may have some empty emotions and self-reflection. Our minds may

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have to look back on our pleasures and ask questions about whether what we did was enjoyable or

okay to happen, as evidenced by an article by Kids Frontiers In, guilt tends to stick in unless we do

something about it25 so till then, that guilt is there for us to remind us that what we did is, in fact,

wrong, not unless we know for sure what we did was completely moral.

Conclusion

To recap, we humans normally imagine our desires. In order to make them real, we manifest

our imaginations into pleasures, to action. Now before doing our pleasures. We can either think of

others or not, but it is suggested we take others into consideration when our desires are necessary

and natural and if not, we can think solely for ourselves so we can pursue the happiness we deserve.

In order to avoid guilty feelings, we must opt for pleasures that express eudaimonia happiness, and

actions that express virtue, and how will we know if it does indeed express virtue? Through Hedonia

happiness, just because we are talking to people to make friends does not necessarily mean we just

want them for friends. It could be possible we have other malicious intent for them. Epicurus then

went on to categorize different types of desires but personally, I conclude whether it is vain or

necessary, so long as it gives us a sense of purpose and makes us happy, our pleasure is justified and

thus is natural and meant for us to do. But if it makes you sad then it is not justified and not meant

for us to do (necessary and natural desires are exempted). The closest vice description Epicurus has

said without having to directly say is being arrogant. By being arrogant, selfish, and expressing no

virtue from our pleasure since we have malicious intent. We cannot have a pleasant life which goes

against his philosophy of “The only essential thing in our life is our pleasure”.

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 My final conclusion to answer the question “why does it feel so good when it is so wrong” is

that while we are in a moment of manifesting our pleasures, we are in a sweep of happiness until we

are finished, where we can now consider it as static pleasure. The moment the static pleasure is

done, Depending on whether what we did, if it did not express virtue nor you had malicious intent of

doing the pleasure, guilt may kick in and have you rethink it, over and over again since it is innate in

us humans to be virtuous, but alas we are imperfect so we make mistakes. In this sense, guilty

pleasure is no longer defined as addictive and being consciously aware of it but rather a direct self-

explanatory definition where you did feel pleasured but felt guilty the moment static pleasure has

run down. Epicurus in his last days, despite the physical pain he was in, reminisced about his happy

memories which made him still have a pleasant life. He had nothing to feel guilty for in his life. He

was contented. Therefore, a person who has guilty pleasures, aside from being arrogant will have an

unpleasant life and should be avoided. Thus, guilty pleasures are immoral in the Epicurean sense.

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Bibliography

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1
Amaha, “The Pleasure-Purpose Principle: Amaha - Your Mental Health Partner,” Amaha (Amaha, December 17, 2021),
https://www.amahahealth.com/blog/pleasure-purpose/.
2
Julia Griffin, “Over 60? Embrace the 3 P's – Pleasure, Purpose and Passion!,” Sixty and Me, May 16, 2022,
https://sixtyandme.com/pleasure-purpose-passion/.
3
Meg Sellg, “Is Purpose or Pleasure the Key to Happiness as We Age?,” Psychology Today (Sussex Publishers, November 1,
2021), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/202111/is-purpose-or-pleasure-the-key-happiness-we-
age#:~:text=Cynthia%20Vinney%20points%20out%20that,and%20even%20make%20headway%20on.
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