Hedonism
Overview
Hedonism is the view that pleasure (or well-being, broadly understood) is the only thing of intrinsic value, and pain the only thing intrinsically bad. Psychological hedonism is the descriptive claim that people in fact pursue only pleasure; ethical hedonism is the normative claim that they ought to. Epicurus held a disciplined version (the goal is tranquillity and the absence of pain, not indulgence); utilitarianism in Bentham's form is hedonism applied to populations.
Notes
- The standard objections are the Experience Machine and The Happy Pill: most people would not plug in, which suggests they value contact with reality, achievement, and relationships for their own sake and not merely for the pleasure they bring.
- I am not a hedonist, but I think the objections are weaker than they look. That people decline the machine is a fact about their preferences, which is exactly what a subjectivist about value (Moral claims are incomplete assertions) would expect; it does not show that anything has value independent of being wanted. What it shows is that we want more than pleasure.
- My own view of Happiness is that it is the default state and that most unhappiness has a cause that can be addressed. That is a claim about psychology, not about value.