Hedonism

Abstract

Hedonistic theories are among the oldest, the most popular, and the most intuitively attractive of all theories of value. The common core of such theories has been expressed in various ways: “Pleasure is The Good”; “Pleasure alone is worth seeking as an end”; “Pleasure is the only thing that is good in itself.” Hedonists hold that a person’s life is better as it contains a more favorable balance of PLEASURE over pain; that the same factor determines the value of a possible world, or the consequence of some line of behavior. Hedonism, in various forms, has been endorsed (or seriously considered) by a long line of moral philosophers. Important discussions can be found in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus, among the ancients. Among British philosophers, Bentham, Mill, Sidgwick, and Moore made important contributions, though not all endorsed hedonism. Other valuable work has been done by Broad, Brentano, Ryle, and Brandt, among others. Different philosophers have understood hedonism in different ways, and these different ways are not always consistent with each other. In many cases, new formulations have been developed precisely because it has been thought that received formulations are defective, either in substance or in form. Thus, it might be wise to think of hedonism not as a particular theory of value, but rather as a family of theories, or perhaps as a general approach to the theory of value.