Daniel Haybron Hedonism Essay

“The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt is the first book I've read of its kind, mostly because I've been trying to feel my way through life so far one step at a time, and I will likely never forget it. There are things to be learned within this combination of ancient wisdom, research, and Haidt's connection of it all, valuable lessons for approaching and understanding the human experience. Reading something like this young, and taking it with me throughout my life and comparing it to my own experience will indeed make it a very valuable tool.

The desire satisfaction theory accommodates the thought which hedonism does not accommodate. According to the desire satisfaction theory, our lives go better when the world actually is a certain way, and doesn’t merely appear to be a certain way. An individual experiences pleasure when the desires are satisfied but it is not a guarantee that the desires cause pleasure.

Hedonism is the idea that well-being of people comes about through pleasure. Pure hedonism is the thought that it arises through and only through pleasure and both Bentham and Mill advocate different approaches for which hedonism may be the basis of human well-being. Both Philosophers then go on to construct theories of morality on the basis of this idea such that what should be maximised in a moral dilemma is the cumulative welfare of all individuals as measured by their particular approach for deciphering which course of action will yield the most well-being for all. However, the focus of

The hedonist would argue that pleasure is the only intrinsic good in life, that joy and suffering are the only distinguishing marks of things beneficial or harmful to the human being. To the hedonist, life is like the common balance scale with suffering on one side and pleasure on the other. With pleasure being inversely related to suffering, in order to maximize the good of life, the hedonist strives to minimize suffering, thereby maximizing net pleasure (pleasure minus suffering).

In part one of our book, “The Good Life,” we studied five different philosopher’s viewpoints on what is needed in order for a person to have a good, fulfilling life. They all included the concepts of pleasure and happiness to some extent in their theories, but they all approached the ideas in different ways. The two hedonists we studied, Epicurus and John Stuart Mill, place heavy emphasis on the importance of pleasure. They both believe that pleasure is a necessity in the ideal life. Jean Kazez agreed with their viewpoints in her theory and said that happiness was a necessity for a good life. Epicurus and Mill also argue that there is nothing else that we ultimately desire beyond pleasure and that it is an intrinsic good.

Hedonism is one of the oldest of philosophical theories, dating back to the ancient Greeks. As Schafer-Landau (2015) explained, “Epicurus (341-270 BCE), the first great hedonist, argued that pleasure was the only thing

There are many ways in which you could lead a hedonistic lifestyle, but the vast majority these lifestyle choices are frowned upon by our society. Hedonism is the concept of doing whatever you please. It strives to maximize pleasure whether that be through goods, actions, or experiences. We all practice this to an extent, but it is often disparaged by our peers. Many people would call this lifestyle selfish of egocentric. I feel like everyone should incorporate some self-indulgence and focus on oneself happiness every once in a while without having to worry about the opinion of others. However, some other people wouldn’t agree with me. A hedonistic lifestyle is dissented by society because of its health, economic, legal ramifications,

Over the years, humanity has developed and improved their technology, ultimately replacing the old with the new; this including their happiness and pleasure with artificial substitutes such as phones and alcohol. Their new inventions, however, fail to fill the gaps in their hearts that seek true pleasure, but what even is true pleasure? How does it contribute to happiness? Hedonists such as Epicurus believed that a good, simple life was one full of pleasures and desires, uninhabited by pain. These desires include food, shelter, friends and clothing, nothing too extravagant. He believed these were the key ingredients that make life worth living. He saw nothing wrong with a pleasurable life, but noticed that the majority was drawn to materials

In life, people tend to face the question of what makes them happy. Happiness can be defined as “a state of well-being and contentment” (Merriam-Webster). Everyone has their own opinion and definition of what happiness is in their own lives. When I am asked this question, I tend to say that being with my friends and family who I can fully be myself around is what makes me happy.

Awash in happiness, a life devoid of strife, where every endeavor is enjoyable and whose achievement is the highest order of pleasures with no quarter for pain. According to hedonism, this would be the perfect state of well-being and who, at the face of it, could disagree with them? Many have, not so much with the utopia presented but with hedonism's terms for such a perfected welfare. Perhaps the most famous of these detractors was Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick when he took this concept of an idealized life and put it in a box with his thought experiment, The Experience Machine. However, given a description of hedonism and Nozick’s compellingly illustrative refutation, an apparent ‘out’ for the hedonist can be found.

The Hedonic view (Subjective well-being) is the perspective of how people experience the quality of their lives. Hedonism is about knowing the fulfillment of pleasure. This type of pleasure is physical pleasure, which focuses on the feeling of happiness, satisfaction and enjoyment. Hedonism is often something that is done for the moment and is short-term, and it is thought that an increase in pleasure there will be a decrease in pain. Things such as drinking, eating, and sex would be examples of this because they are all short-term actions that give us pleasure. I agree with the Greek philosopher Aristippus viewpoint that “the goal of life is to experience the maximum amount of pleasure.” (Aristippus) However I don’t not agree with the notion of Hedonic view as a whole. Living life in short-term burst of pleasure is not the ideal life I would like. I believe you should do things that will bring you long-term happiness and not just short-term. Also if you live your life in short burst of happiness you will have some positive effects and some negative effects. The positives being you got happiness and pleasure for the moment and the negative being that you are no longer

Hedonism promotes a life of enjoyment similar to the Desire Satisfaction Theory. However, Hedonism states that a good life maximizes its happiness potential. Therefore, Hedonism has its own flaws that the Desire Satisfaction Theory can satisfy.

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Hedonism as, “The belief that pleasure or happiness is the most important goal in life,” which may be true depending on one’s viewpoint. After all, life will be dreary without happiness or some form of pleasure or excitement. Another qualifying reason for Hedonism is its prolonged existence. Hedonism – like other belief systems, has been in existence since ancient times; it’s even older than Christianity. Aristippus of Cyrene (a disciple of Socrates) was the first great exponent of Hedonism. He was also the founder of the Cyrenaic School of Hedonism that taught the individual person to perform acts that generates pleasure (Herbermann et al. p. 187).

Hedonism is a form of wellbeing theory about what is best in our interest and what is good for us. According to hedonism, wellbeing relies solely on pleasure experienced. Although there are some hedonist theories that values extrinsic pleasure, in this essay we will be looking at hedonism that values pleasure felt from inside, i.e., hedonism as a mental state theory of wellbeing. This theory has met quite a numbers of objections. We will focus on one such popular objection developed by Robert Nozick. Nozick challenged the mental state theories of wellbeing with his thought experiment about an experience machine. This objection is sought out as ultimate weapon to “knockdown” hedonism (Weijers 2010, pp. 1). There has been attempts made to defend hedonism from this objection. Few of these responses will be discussed to determine if they are able to successfully overcome Nozick’s objection. Pleasure and pain mentioned will automatically refer to the intrinsic sensations, not physical activity nor as external

The present hedonistic subscale, where individuals have an orientation to make sacrifices in the present, to enjoy rewards tomorrow, is measured by fifteen items (‘I take risks to put excitement in my life’). It was calculated by taking the fifteen items related to present hedonistic