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.

Joel Kupperman in Six Myths about the Good Life: Thinking About What Has Value evaluates that humans as a whole want more comfort and pleasure in life as he it “may represent a tendency that is wired into normal human nature” (Kupperman 1). Through the explanation of pleasure as well as its arguable counterpart, suffering and the discussion of their values in addition to the counterargument of hedonic treadmill, Kupperman’s views about the role of pleasure in living a good life can be strongly supported and evaluated.

As humans we are constantly in search of understanding the balance between what feels good and what is right. Humans try to take full advantage of experiencing pleasure to its fullest potential. Hedonism claims that pleasure is the highest and only source of essential significance. If the notion of hedonism is truthful, happiness is directly correlated with pleasure. Robert Nozick presented the philosophical world with his though experiment, “The Experience Machine” in order to dispute the existence and validity of hedonism. Nozick’s thought experiment poses the question of whether or not humans would plug into a machine which produces any desired experience. Nozick weakens the notion of hedonism through his thought experiment, claiming

We all have some sort of desire to become successful to make our family and friends proud. Someone could potentially practice a hedonistic lifestyle in the pure sense of focusing on one’s personal happiness without experiencing legal consequences or receiving societal criticism, but we all care too much about what others think (Royzman). I for example, would love to own my own business and work for myself. However, I’m at the point where I am unsure if I should pursue my own happiness or pursue six figures with the chance of making my parents proud and supporting myself comfortably. What is so wrong with pursuing authentic happiness? Well, it all comes back to how you pursue that happiness. The hedonistic lifestyle that I am more interested in as of now has a bigger focus on spiritual and emotional health than monetary wealth. To be able to be in tune with my own self I may wish to burn down a few blunts at the end of a long day as a tool of reflection however my mom would not perceive it the same way. I also love collecting sneakers, working for the new releases, and buying outfits to match them. My mom however thinks that this is a poor spending choice and will cause afflictions later in my life. Everyone has a different

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).

Hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory of welfare are typically seen as archrivals in the contest over identifying what makes one’s life better. It is surprising, then, that the most plausible form of hedonism is desire satisfactionism. The hedonism theory focuses on pleasure/happiness while the desire-satisfaction theory elucidates the relevance of fulfilling our desires. Pleasure, in some points of view is the subjective satisfaction of desire. I will explain the similarities and the differences between the desire-satisfaction theory of value and hedonism. I will also discuss the most successful theory and defend my argument by explaining how the theory

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

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

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.

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

Jeremy Bentham’s quantitative hedonism is a viewpoint that quantity, intensity, and duration of pleasures determines the value of that pleasure. Bentham argues that happiness is the ultimate good. He argues that the definition of happiness is pleasure accompanied by an avoidance of pain. Jeremy Bentham believed that creating the greatest combined happiness was the key to correct moral behavior.

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.

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

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.