>Do you agree with Hedonism? Is it right?
>Psychological Hedonism says everyone is motivated by their search for pleasure. Ethical Hedonism says everyone ought to seek pleasure, for it is the only thing worth having.
Do you agree?
Battison's Blog
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Battison's Blog 
>I completely disagree. It depends of course on how pleasure is defined, but in Hedonistic terms it's usually taken to mean only a small part of our positive emotional repetoire. We also seek contentment, and the avoidance of misery. For instance you could argue that a guard stays at his post for the long term benefits in pleasure of having the wage and an untarnished reputation. But more accurate would be to say that he remains at his post to avoid the negative emotions that would be caused from guilt and if he was caught.And what about when we fool ourselves? For instance take the example of a scrooge. Scrooge may have initially sought wealth for pleasure, but after a while he began to seek it as an ends in itself, completely contrary to his pursuit of pleasure. Then with regards to ethical Hedonism there is the question of logic. We're capable of thinking things that would not be in our interests. Are we capable of carrying those decisions out? It's difficult to say because the decision to help others at your own expense can be done for the 'good feelings' they give, or the belief that it will make the person more likely to go to some sort of paradise in the after-life. However, even if our decisions do result in some positive feelings, you could argue that we're perfectly capable of making decisions that actually cause more misery than they give pleasure.And is the 'good life' synonomous with the 'pleasurable life'? Not always, for as Epicurus pointed out, smoking Opium may give us pleasure in the short term, but it will also result in physical and mental deterioration. And many people have morals driven into them, which may make the person act not in the interests of pleasure.And of course advising people to pursue pleasure can sometimes be the same as advising them to seek pain, for even friendships include pain, for example if and when the person dies. Who can really judge whether the pleasure will outweigh the pain or not? Especially seen as everyone's emotional balance is different.
All I can say is I completely agree with robs views on this topic!
Well said…