Hedonism

3 Pages 872 Words

Through out a person’s life, they will make billions of decision that affect them. But why do they make the decisions they do? I believe every decision made is in the pursuit of pleasure, or the avoidance of pain. In other words, the ultimate goal of life is to obtain pleasure or happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Humans spend their entire lives following this philosophy whether they realize it or not. This philosophy is called Hedonism and philosophers have split it into two branches; one being ethical hedonism and the other psychological hedonism.
Ethical Hedonism is the view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness. It is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (342-270 BCE.) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. In Epicurus’ A Letter to Menoeceus, one of his only surviving fragments, Epicurus gives advice on how to decrease life’s pains and describes the nature of human 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.” (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus). Epicureans believe that every pain is bad and should be avoided, whereas every pleasure is grand and should be sought after. Therefore, when making choices, man should strive to attain the most pleasure possible, to seek ataraxia (peace of mind, or intellectual pleasure).
Psychological Hedonism is the view that humans are psychologically constructed in such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure. With Psychological Hedonism there exist three sub-sections of it: “Goal is Pleasure”, stating that a person will only do something if they believe it will either cause them pleasure or avoid pain. “Motivation by Pleasant Thoughts”, where a person would choose to do A rather then B if and only i...