HEDONISM, Alex Koonthanam

Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. This is often used as a justification for evaluating actions in terms of how much pleasure and how little pain they produce. Philosophers commonly distinguish between psychological hedonism and ethical hedonism. Psychological hedonism is the view that humans are psychologically constructed in such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure. Ethical hedonism is the view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness. Ethical hedonism is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize 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. Epicureans, have insisted that pleasure of the entire mind, not just pleasure of the senses, is the highest good. To show that everyone wants only pleasure was thought necessary and sufficient to show that pleasure is the human good and so what humans ought to pursue. There are three varieties of hedonism. They are as follows:

1. Psychological hedonists hold that we can pursue only pleasure. This arguments may be to the effect that all of every agent's actions are a function of what they consider will maximize their pleasure overall or will be the pleasantest thing in itself of the available alternatives. It will depend on how the end of pleasure is conceived.

2. Evaluative hedonists that pleasure is what we ought to pursue. The issue here depends on the possibilities for establishing the desirability of ends. Is it intuitively obvious that in some sense pleasure is good or by some account of rationality is it the only rational thing to pursue or does pleasure alone make sense of our moral concerns? But about how one might argue that pleasure ought to be pursued or desired.

3. Reflective hedonists that it is what on reflection gives value to any pursuit. There are arguments as to whether all on reflective valuing does in the last resort rely on appeal to hedonistic considerations. Reflective hedonism is a half way house. The thesis is that when we reflect on what is valuable in life then only considerations of pleasure weigh.

The 19th Century ethical theory of Utilitarianism, propounded by the British philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, developed and refined Hedonism, concluding that we should perform whichever action is best for everyone. Bentham believed that the value of a pleasure could be quantitatively understood, while Mill preferred a qualitative approach dependent on the mix of higher quality pleasures and lower quality, simple pleasures. Alyn Rand one of the biggest modern proponents of Egoism, has rejected Hedonism as a comprehensive ethical system on the grounds that, although pleasure can be the purpose of ethics, it cannot be the standard or guide to action, as that would result in intellectual and philosophical abdication. Contemporary Hedonists, as represented by an organization known as Hedonist International, strive first and foremost for pleasure, as did their predecessors, but with an additional emphasis on personal freedom and equality.