Ethics Hedonism

HEDONIS
M
HEDONIS
M
• The word ‘hedonism’ comes from the ancient Greek word for
‘pleasure’
• In Greek, Hedone is the goddess of pleasure and delight
 According to Hedonism, pleasure and the absence of

pain are the only thing that are good in and of
themselves.
Nature of Pleasure or Pain
Pleasure
- Pleasant feeling or experience
Pain or Displeasure
- Understood to be unpleasant feeling or experience
 What sort of entity is pleasure or pain?

It can be a state, thing, event etc..
 It a first-order entity or a higher-order entity?
 Does pleasure essentially have a ‘feel’ or phenomenology, a
‘something it is like’?
 Does it essentially have directedness or ‘aboutness’ or intentionality?
Psychological Ethical
VS
Hedonism Hedonism
• Claims that only
• Only pleasure has worth
pleasure or pain
or value and only pain or
motivates us. displeasure has disvalue
Jeremy Bentham:
“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of
two sovereign masters, pain, and pleasure. It is for
them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well
as to determine what we shall do.”
Epicurus
• Epicurus is known as a patron of drunkard, wordmongers
and gluttons
• Senses are the only reliable source of knowledge
• Believed "pleasure" (ἡδονή) was the greatest good.
• The way to attain such pleasure was to live modestly, to

gain knowledge of the workings of the world, and to
limit one's desires.
• This would lead one to attain a state of tranquility

Epicureanism
Pleasures of the body

• These pleasures involve sensations of the body.
Pleasures of the mind
• These pleasures involve mental processes and states.
Kinetic pleasure
• Kinetic pleasure describes the physical or mental
pleasures that involve action or change.
Katastematic pleasure
• Katastematic pleasure describes the pleasure one feels
while in a state without pain.
Epicureanism
THREE KINDS OF DESIRES
Natural and necessary
• These desires are limited desires that are innately present in
all humans; it is part of human nature to have them.
Natural but not necessary

• These desires are innate to humans, but they do not need to
be fulfilled for their happiness or their survival.
Kinetic pleasure
• These desires are neither innate to humans nor required for
happiness or health.
John Stuart
Mill
• One of the great Hedonistic
thinkers
• Born 1806 and died on 1873
 We do and can desire

nothing but pleasure.
 Pleasure is the only thing
that is always worth
pursuing for its own sake.
In relation with Utilitarianism or the Greatest-happiness principle:
By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by
unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure.
John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility:

“Pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only
things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things
are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in
themselves or as means to the promotion of pleasure
and the prevention of pain.”
 He called this a theory of life in which theory of morality is
grounded
Epicurean Life
=
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
Notion of higher and lower qualities of

pleasure:
 “Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal
appetites and, when once made conscious of them, do not regard
anything as happiness which does not include their gratification”
 “Pleasures of the intellect, of the feelings and imagination, and of
the moral sentiments have a much higher value, as pleasures,
than those of mere sensation”
Benhams’ analyzation of pleasure:

 Pleasure or pain as two dimensional – having a certain
duration in time and having a certain intensity at each
moment
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
 “Better to be Socrates dissatisfied, than a fool

satisfied.”
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
 “The sole evidence it is possible to produce that

anything is desirable, is that people do actually
desire it.”
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
 “Each person's happiness is a good to that person.”

 “The general happiness“ is therefore "a good to the
aggregate of all persons."
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
 “The ingredients of happiness are very various, and

each of them is desirable in itself”
John Stuart Mill :
Hedonism
 “Happiness is the sole end of human action”

Ethics Hedonism

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HEDONIS

 According to Hedonism, pleasure and the absence of

 What sort of entity is pleasure or pain?

• Senses are the only reliable source of knowledge

• Believed "pleasure" (ἡδονή) was the greatest good.

• The way to attain such pleasure was to live modestly, to

• This would lead one to attain a state of tranquility

Pleasures of the body

Natural but not necessary

 We do and can desire

John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility:

Notion of higher and lower qualities of

Benhams’ analyzation of pleasure:

 “Better to be Socrates dissatisfied, than a fool

 “The sole evidence it is possible to produce that

 “Each person's happiness is a good to that person.”

 “The ingredients of happiness are very various, and

 “Happiness is the sole end of human action”

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