//riot of disorder::

It seems to me that Hedonism makes alot of sense.

The purpose of human life is to maximize pleasure, while minimizing pain.

That does sound like a good mindset, if you don't go too far into it, like some serial killers have. What do you think about Hedonism?

Mexicola

I think it's a very silly idea which doesn't really belong in philosophy. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on why it's such a good idea? I think you'll be hard-pressed to come up with any non-question-begging reasons. This being the case I see no reason to choose hedonism over any other rationales for action. For example, masochism - maximise pleasure, maximise pain

Dubin

But if a masochist enjoys pain, would the absence thereof be the masochist's personal hell?

Hedonism in a sensual, errh, sense is obviously a fruitless endeavor, as sense-pleasure is never lasting. However, I believe that various degrees and directions of hedonism are the only reasons that anyone wishes to do anything. Even if pain is what one wants, it is still pleasure that one derives and therefore seeks from pain.

sparks

hedonism seems to be all about over doing it. this is fast way to ware your pleasure out too quickly, but when balanced with reason and moderation your able to draw more enjoyment for longer periods of time.

Albert Cipriani

Hedonism is not a philosophy, it is a given. All living things seek pleasure and avoid pain. That's simply a brute fact that is generally conducive to living things staying alive.

Any philosophy worthy of its name provides guidence as to why we should deviate from our hedonistic hardwiring by doing the converse of what we are physically programmed to do, i.e., accept pain and avoid pleasure.

Hedonism, then, is but the begining of physiology, not the end-all or be-all of any world view worthy of the name "philosophy." -- Sincerely, Albert the Traditional Catholic

Mexicola

Yeah, that's why I said maximise both pleasure AND pain, not just pain, to allow for the silly people who'll object 'but if they like pain, then...' Masochists may well like pleasure as well as pain, but this doesn't mean they always get pleasure from their pain, nor that it's the pleasure they 'really seek'. Pleasure does not equal 'what one gets from what one wants' - this is an assumption built into justifications of hedonism which simply begs the question - in effect it equates the 'we all seek pleasure' of hedonism to 'we all seek what we seek'. Yeah, tell me something I don't know...
Are masochists now not living things??? How about those dicks on Jackass? Presumably they're living things. There are countless cases of animals choosing pain over pleasure for whatever cause - eg the survival of one's offspring, etc. The above generalisation is just plain factually false, as are just about all pseudo-philosophical generalisations that begin 'All living things..'
Erm, see above - we're not programmed like that - so therefore we don't need 'special philosophical guidance' to tell us why not to seek pleasure.
Actually, hedonism is not either - it's the result of a lot of foolish, simplistic ideas being generally accepted.

Pyrrho

It really depends on the kind of hedonism you have in mind. Here are a couple of links to a type that is sensible:

www.atomic-swerve.net/tpg

www.epicurus.net

"Hedonism", in the popular mindset, involves doing the opposite of what a philosophical hedonist is likely to recommend. Following Epicurus' advice (which involves maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain), one would go to a dentist for a checkup, not because it is, in itself, good, but because it has good results (if one goes to a competent dentist). A little pain now to avoid great pain later is a good deal. Furthermore, drinking a quart of Scotch every night is a bad idea, first because one will probably end up vomiting and have a bad hangover (if one survives the night), and second because one will do permanent damage to one's body if one did that every night, so one would be giving oneself considerable pain in the future. Also, one would need to be careful about whom one was with when drinking that way, as someone could easily harm someone so very drunk.

With Epicurus, one considers the consequences of one's actions, and uses those as part of what determines what one should do. Immediate pleasure and pain is not all that one will have, unless one dies immediately.

xorbie

I think this all depends on how you define pleasure. Cocaine brings pleasure, sex with someone with HIV brings pleasure, looking at art brings pleasure. The problem with Hedonism is that people who actually consider themselves Hedonists are the "consequences be damned, I must satisfy my urges right now" type. And all other forms of Hedonism I find to be useless.

VivaHedone

Pleasure is good. Pain is bad. Therefore we shold try and maximise total pleasure in our lives and minimise total pain. Simple.

I would say this applies not only to sensual pleasure, as the term 'hedonist' implies, but mental and emotional pleasures also. In some ways, the emotional and mental pleasures, ie. love, friendship, humour, are the most important, as they are long-lasting.

The Epicurean view, that we should experience pain in order to gain geater amounts of pleasure, also seems to make sense.

I would attach the scruple that you should do anything that causes greater pleasure than pain, as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. If pleasure is good, you should also try and maximise others' pleasure from life.

Basically, we have these amazing sensations and feelings, from which great pleasure and great pain can be derived, and we have them for a tragically short time, so make the most of it.

Gothic_J

right then, thats my new religion ^^