Hedonism is the doctrine that a person performs all actions for his own pleasure, therefore only this can be considered the meaning of life. This approach seems immoral to some, but absolute truth does not exist, so you will have to draw your own conclusions.

Hedonism - what is it?

Translated from ancient Greek, hedonism is pleasure or pleasure. The teaching bearing this name speaks of the naturalness of the search for pleasant sensations, so a person consciously or not moves along this path. And since this is inherent in human nature, then it is quite logical to consciously direct one’s actions to obtain joy. The entire teaching ends with this statement, because no one has completed this system, so the behavior of its adherents can be strikingly different.

Hedonism in psychology

The doctrine originated before our era, but hedonism began to be considered in the 20th century. There are two behavioral concepts:

• future - actions are associated with anticipation of pleasure;
• present - actions are aimed at quickly obtaining pleasure.

The disadvantage of psychological hedonism is that it transfers the central role to emotions, leaving the mental part in the background. In fact, emotions only serve as beacons when establishing your own value system. Nevertheless, hedonism makes it possible to study the individual’s emphasis on the acquisition of physiological pleasures and prestigious objects, often devoid of practical meaning. Such research is relevant due to the growing number of people seeking maximum pleasure.

Hedonism in philosophy

Aristippus (435-355 BC) became the founder of the doctrine, believing that the human soul experiences two states - pleasure and pain. The path to happiness lies in avoiding unpleasant sensations and striving for pleasant ones. In this case, the emphasis was on the physical aspects. Epicurus said that hedonism in philosophy is the complete satisfaction of one's desires. The goal is pleasure itself, and freedom from unhappiness. In his opinion, the highest measure of such pleasure is ataraxia, and moderation in the consumption of any goods.

Enlightened hedonism became widespread in the 18th century. The aristocracy, especially in France, often understood it as receiving the simplest pleasures. Jeremy Bentham helped bring back the concept of philosophy, who took hedonism to a new level, taking its principle as a basis for his theory of utilitarianism. It provides for the behavior of society in which all its members can achieve the highest pleasure.

Rules of life according to hedonism

The doctrine has not been fully formed, so there is no clear system of values, and no one has drawn up the rules of hedonism. There is only one postulate: the highest goal of a person is to be happy. And to do this, you need to reduce the number of unpleasant experiences and concentrate on things that bring joy. That is, you need to understand what hedonism means based on your own feelings.

Hedonism - good or bad?

There is no definite answer; it all depends on your personal interpretation of the concept. For some, hedonism is the pursuit of new, increasingly strong impressions, while others consider themselves a follower of the doctrine because of their love for beautiful clothes and taking baths with fragrant foam. It is clear that the desire to make your everyday life a little more pleasant does not threaten anything. If you make getting pleasure an end in itself, you may end up with only troubles. Let's consider why hedonism in its absolute form is dangerous.

1. futility. Gradually, familiar pleasures become boring, new steps are needed, but when they are passed, there is nothing left that could bring joy.
2. Waste of time. While searching for pleasure, it is easy to miss the moment to take steps that decide your future life.
3. Health problems. Much of what brings joy on the physical plane has a negative impact on health.

Hedonism and egoism

The philosophical side of this teaching is often equated with egoism, but this is not entirely true. The principles of hedonism do not prescribe focusing only on oneself, and it is not forbidden to care about the pleasure of others. There are two forms: egoistic and universal. The first is characterized by concentration on one’s own feelings, even if they are not shared by others. For connoisseurs of the second form, it is important that the pleasure extends to those around them.

Hedonism and Christianity

From the point of view of religion, everything that is not aimed at serving God is vanity, which is not worthy of attention. Therefore, hedonism is a sin for Christians. It not only distracts from the highest goal, but also replaces it with the desire to acquire earthly goods. If we talk about the phenomenon in general, without examining specific cases, the usual desire for comfort can hardly be called a crime. The universal form of hedonism also does not always lead to becoming a sinner; helping other people with Christianity is welcomed.

It cannot be said that every hedonist is a sinner. Each case must be considered separately. If you can’t figure out the situation on your own, and you want not to violate your own religious beliefs, and not to deny yourself comfort, then you can consult with the priest. He knows the sacred texts better and has experience in resolving such conflicts. True, he can also make mistakes, so the final decision remains with the person himself.

Famous hedonists

In modern society, almost any celebrity can be labeled as a “hedonist.” Even if some of them are involved in charity, this happened only after satisfying their own thirst for pleasant experiences. This applies not only to our century; there have always been connoisseurs of a comfortable life. After Epicurus, who developed his own formula for hedonism, the doctrine received new life during the Renaissance. Then Petrarch, Boccaccio and Raimondi became his followers.

Then Hadrian Helvetius and Spinoza joined the doctrine, correlating human pleasures with social interests. Thomas Hobbes also advocated restrictions, proposing the principle “do not do to others as you would not have them do to you.” Not everyone followed this principle; the most striking example of the rejection of religious, moral and legal frameworks was the works of the Marquis de Sade.

Books about hedonism

Many people were interested in the phenomenon, it was seriously studied by philosophers and psychologists, descriptions can also be found in fiction. Here are some books about hedonism.

1. "Principles of Ethics" George Moore. The English philosopher reflects on the nature of the phenomenon and points out a mistake - confusing the concept of good and the means to achieve it.
2. Brains and Pleasures by David Linden. The book talks about the latest advances in the field of neurobiology, which have allowed us to take a fresh look at the experience of pleasure and the formation of dependence on it.
3. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Oscar Wilde. The famous work, which has undergone more than one film adaptation, demonstrates the most negative aspects and consequences of hedonism.
4. "Brave New World" Aldous Huxley. All social life is built on the principles of achieving pleasure. The results of such an experiment are described in the work.
5. "The Last Secret" Bernard Werber. The heroes of this science fiction novel try to look into human thoughts and find the reason that motivates them to perform any action.

Using hamburgers as an example, the author identifies 4 archetypes of human behavior, characterized by specific psychological attitudes and behavioral patterns: Hedonist, Nihilist, Rat Race Participant and Simply Happy Person

(I think it would be better without hamburgers, but what can you do, American author)

Archetype Hedonism

The first archetypal hamburger is a tasty but unhealthy bun with questionable toppings. Eating this hamburger at the present moment would be good, since it would give me pleasure (“current good”), but in the future it would certainly turn out to be evil, since I would feel bad afterwards (“future evil”).

A characteristic feature that defines archetype of hedonism, precisely lies in the fact that everything that happens at the moment is perceived as good, but in the future it will certainly turn out to be evil. Hedonists live by the principle: “Strive for pleasure and avoid suffering”; All their efforts are aimed at enjoying life today and now, ignoring the potential negative consequences of their actions in the future.

A hedonist seeks pleasure and avoids suffering. He cares only about satisfying his own desires and thinks almost nothing about future consequences. A fulfilling life, in his opinion, comes down to a sequence of pleasant sensations. If something gives him pleasure at the moment, this serves as sufficient justification for doing it until a new hobby comes to replace the old hobby. The hedonist enthusiastically makes new friends and lovers, but as soon as their novelty fades, he immediately finds new attachments. Since a hedonist is fixated only on what is happening to him at the moment, for the sake of momentary pleasure he is ready to commit actions that can subsequently cause him enormous damage. If drugs bring him pleasure, he will take them; if he feels that work is too difficult, he will avoid it.

The hedonist makes the mistake of identifying any effort with suffering, and pleasure with happiness. We cannot find happiness if we seek only pleasures and avoid suffering. And yet, the hedonist living inside each of us, in an inescapable longing for some kind of Garden of Eden, continues to identify work with suffering, and idleness with pleasure.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who in his scientific work studies almost exclusively states of highest creative activity and spiritual elation, argues that “ The best moments in a person's life usually come when his body or mind is stretched to the limit in a voluntary effort to complete some difficult task or accomplishment" A hedonistic existence without struggle is not a recipe for happiness.

Living in a hedonistic manner can also be useful at times. Anyone who lives for today becomes younger at heart - as long as in the long term this does not lead to any negative consequences (like those that occur from taking drugs). If we relax a little, sit back and enjoy life - lay on the beach, eat hamburgers from McDonald's, and then enjoy an ice cream sundae with whipped cream or just watch TV - it will only make us happier.

Question: Think back to a time—whether it was a single episode or a long period of time—when you lived as a hedonist. What have you gained and what have you lost by living this way?

Rat Race Archetype

The second type of hamburger that came to mind was a bland, meatless veggie bun made with only healthy ingredients. Eating such a hamburger would be good for the future, since as a result I would be healthy and feel good (“future good”), but at the moment it would cause me nothing but trouble, because I would be disgusted to chew this rubbish (“current evil”).
This hamburger matches rat race archetype. From the point of view of the “rat”, the present is not worth a penny compared to the future, and the poor fellow suffers in the name of some anticipated gain.

Participants in the rat race are distinguished primarily by their inability to enjoy their activities, and also by their ineradicable belief that if they achieve some specific goal, they will be happy forever and ever.

The reason why there are so many people around us who participate in the rat race is because of our culture, which encourages such superstitions to take root. If we finish the semester with only tens, we receive a gift from our parents; If we fulfill the plan at work, then at the end of the year we receive a bonus. We get used to not thinking about anything other than the goal that looms before us on the horizon, and not paying attention to what is happening to us at the moment. All our lives we have been chasing the endlessly eluding ghost of the future.infantry We are rewarded and praised not for what happens to us along the way, but only for the successful completion of the journey. Society rewards us for results, not for the process itself; for the fact that we have reached the goal, and not for the fact that we have walked the path that leads to it.

As soon as we achieve our intended goal, we immediately experience a feeling of relief, which is so easy to confuse with happiness. The heavier the burden we carry on the journey, the stronger and more pleasant the feeling of relief we experience. When we confuse this momentary relief with happiness, we reinforce the illusion that simply achieving a goal will make us happy. The feeling of relief, of course, has a certain value for us - it is pleasant and quite real - but it should not be confused with happiness.

The feeling of relief can be considered a kind of negative happiness, since its source is the same stress and anxiety, but taken with the opposite sign. By its very nature, relief involves unpleasant experiences, and therefore the happiness that arises from a feeling of relief cannot last for any long time. If a woman suffering from a painful migraine suddenly stops having a headache, she will feel like the happiest person in the world because of the mere absence of pain. But since such “happiness” is always preceded by suffering, the absence of pain is just a momentary relief from extremely negative experiences.

Moreover, the feeling of relief is always temporary. When our temples stop pounding, the absence of pain itself gives us a certain pleasure, but then we very quickly get used to this state and take it for granted.

A participant in the rat race who confuses relief with happiness spends his entire life chasing his goals, believing that all he needs to do to be happy is simply achieving something.

Question: don't you feel from time to time that you are just like a participant in the rat race? If you could look at your life from the outside, what advice would you give yourself?

Archetype of Nihilism

The third type of hamburger is the worst of all, being both tasteless and unhealthy. If I ate it, it would harm me both in the present, since the hamburger tastes disgusting, and in the future, since eating it would seriously harm my health.
The closest parallel for such a hamburger is archetype of nihilism. It is characteristic of a person who lost the taste for life;such a person is unable to either enjoy momentary joys or strive for a great goal.

In the context of this book, a nihilist is a person who became disillusioned with the very possibility of happiness and resignedly resigned himself to the fact that life has no meaning. If the archetype of the rat race very successfully characterizes the state of a person who lives for a bright future, and the archetype of hedonism - the state of a person who lives for today, then the archetype of nihilism accurately reflects the state of a person who is chained to the past. Those who have come to terms with their current misfortune and are confident in advance that the same life is destined for them in the future, cannot get out of their heads their previous unsuccessful attempts to become happy.

Question: Try to remember a time - whether it was a single episode or a fairly long period of time - when you felt like a nihilist, unable to get out of the shell of your then misfortune. If you had the opportunity to look at this situation from the outside, what advice would you give yourself?

Both a participant in the rat race, a hedonist, and a nihilist - all of them, each in their own way, are mistaken - they incorrectly interpret reality, do not understand the true nature of happiness and do not know what is needed for a full life. A participant in the rat race suffers from the “deception of all achievements” - the false belief that if we achieve a very important goal, we will be happy for the rest of our days. The hedonist suffers from the “deceptiveness of the present moment”—the false belief that happiness can be experienced by immersing ourselves in an endless stream of momentary pleasures in isolation from our life’s purpose. Nihilism is also a delusion, an incorrect interpretation of reality - a mistaken belief that no matter how you look at it, happiness is still unattainable. The misconception mentioned above stems from the inability to see the possibility of a synthesis between the desire to achieve something and the current moment - some kind of third path along which it will be possible to get out of the unenviable situation in which we find ourselves.

Archetype of Happiness

However, these three archetypes I have presented by no means exhaust all possible options - there is one more that we need to consider. How about a hamburger that's every bit as tasty as the one I gave up, and every bit as healthy as a meatless veggie bun? A hamburger that simultaneously contains both present and future good?

This hamburger is a living illustration archetype of happiness. Happy people live calmly, in the firm belief that... The very activities that give them a lot of pleasure in the present will provide them with a fulfilling life in the future.

The illusion of a participant in the rat race is that if someday in the future he manages to achieve his intended goal, he will be happy for the rest of his days; he does not realize that the path to the goal is no less important than the goal itself. The illusion of a hedonist, on the contrary, is that only the path is important to him, but not the goal. The nihilist, despairing of achieving the goal and giving up on both it and the path to it, became completely disillusioned with life. A participant in the rat race becomes a slave of the future, a hedonist becomes a slave of the present, and a nihilist becomes a slave of the past.

In order to become happy seriously and for a long time, it is necessary to enjoy the very road to a goal that we consider worthyy. Happiness does not lie in climbing to the top of a mountain, nor in wandering aimlessly through the mountains; happiness is what we experience when we climb to the top.

Our main goal is to spend as much time as possible doing those things that are a source of not only present but also future benefits for us.

Question: Think back to one or two times in your life when you enjoyed both present and future benefits.

Exercise Four Sectors

Surveys of people who regularly keep diaries indicate that writing about the events in our lives - both negative and positive - helps improve our mental and physical health.

For four days in a row, write for at least fifteen minutes a day about what happened to you in each of these four quadrants. Write about the times when you were a participant in the rat race, a hedonist and a nihilist. On the fourth day, write about happy times in your life. If you get moved enough to want to write more about a particular sector, do so, but don't write about more than one sector per day.

Don't worry about grammar or spelling - just write. It is important that in your essay you honestly talked about the emotions that you once experienced or are experiencing now, as well as about what kind of behavioral scenario you carried out (that is, what actions you performed then) and what thoughts were in your head or arose in it while writing this text.

Here are some instructions on what to write in each of these four quadrants:
. PARTICIPANT IN THE RAT RACE. Tell me about a time in your life when you felt like a rat, running non-stop on a treadmill towards a “brighter future.” Why did you do this? What benefits did such a life bring you, if, of course, there was any benefit in this for you? What price did you pay for it or did you not pay any?
. HEDONIST. Tell us about a time in your life when you lived as a hedonist or indulged in hedonistic pleasures. What benefits did such a life bring you, if, of course, there was any benefit in this for you? What price did you pay for it or did you not pay any?
. NIHILIST. Tell us about the most difficult moments in your life, when you gave up on everything and resigned yourself to your bitter fate. Or what happened to you over a longer period of time during which you felt helpless. Share your innermost feelings and thoughts that came to your mind then and now as you write this text.
. HAPPY MAN. Tell us about an incredibly happy time in your life or a time when you were especially happy. Travel back in time in your imagination, try to re-experience your emotions at that time, and then write about them.
Whatever you write, as long as you write it, your writings are for your own eyes only. If, after finishing writing, you want to read what you have written to a loved one, you, of course, have the right to do this, but it is important that you do not feel constrained when performing this exercise. The more you can open up, the more benefit you will get from your writings.

The nihilism sector and the happiness sector will need to be worked on at least twice more. When you do the exercise again, you can remember the same events or write about something different. Review everything you've written from time to time - this can be done once every three months, once a year or once every two years.

based on the book by Tal Ben-Shahar: Learning to be Happy

Pay attention to our society. It is divided into parts according to the criterion of “a sincere smile on the face, radiating positivity,” moreover, many more people are always dissatisfied with something, and this fact does not necessarily depend on material status or family well-being. Absolutely healthy and successful people do not know how to be happy and enjoy the fact of life itself.

A person who enjoys life and is constantly happy often becomes an outcast from society. A hedonist is a person who is able to take everything from life, while at the same time he can give some of the pleasures to others, his main goal is to constantly receive a feeling of high and an eternal state.

These days, all students do is complain about poverty and how difficult it is to maintain a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle.
Jonathan Coe. House of sleep

The origins of hedonism are deeply rooted in history.

Any culture is defined by its teachers and founders. Hedonism can already be recognized for the fact that it originated a long time ago, back in Ancient Greece, and the founder of this trend was the student of the great Socrates, who is still respected.

Freud, developing this teaching, determined that a person from the day of his birth is a natural hedonist, but over time everything becomes boring, and to get pleasure from life you need control over your actions and the method “work hard, try - enjoy life.”

Hedonist: the meaning of life in the meaning of the word

Who is a hedonist? Let’s define the meaning of the word. Hedonism is a system of beliefs, principles and human values ​​that define their highest life mission as receiving every second of pleasure.

Perhaps society is ready to support good impulses to be happy, but not the methods by which most hedonists achieve their “ceiling” of pleasure.

Ways for hedonists to get a constant high

A hedonist is convinced that in order to obtain pleasure one can sacrifice the norms of morality, honor and ethics established unspoken in society.

Let's look at the main ways hedonists get pleasure:

1. sex;
2. alcohol;
3. hobby;
4. Job;
5. Friends;
6. confession;
7. achieving higher spiritual development.

In addition to the main ways that lead to bliss, a hedonist is able to capture moments of happiness from any little things: be it contemplation of nature, organizing parties, traveling around the world, even virtue can cause the realization of complete happiness.

Our expectations as a barrier to hedonism

Hedonist is, first of all, a philosophical term. From the point of view of human psychology, only he himself can assess his condition, and it consists of his expectations and attitude towards life and the situations that occur in it. For example, a person can “get” an absolute buzz when eating instant noodles, while another needs to go to dinner at an elite restaurant of their favorite cuisine to find happiness. In both cases, they both get maximum pleasure.

In sexual relationships, substitution of concepts can also occur. For some, sex with your beloved wife once a week is absolute bliss, while for others, daily intimacy with different partners is necessary. Much closer to the term “hedonism” will be the one who sets up a “happiness” scale in his head and tries to realize himself in accordance with it.

A hedonist is convinced that he himself makes him happy, therefore, in satisfying primary needs, it is necessary to determine in advance the bar that will allow, by realizing them to a minimum, to get maximum pleasure.

Are hedonists and egoists different people?

Often, hedonists are not liked because they believe that they live only for themselves; in fact, this is not at all the case. When there are happy people nearby, their number is growing every day, you can spread optimism, but doing this is much more difficult than spreading negativity around.

Hedonists try to constantly develop, because by degrading you can only get a short-term high, mainly alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from this. Therefore, it is desirable to have fun without harming others, but first of all, ourselves.

The hedonist approaches the egoist in an effort to comprehend himself spiritually, to find out the purpose of his own “I” and to endow it with absolute happiness in his head. A person who takes grandmothers across the road, helps loved ones financially, and is ready to provide moral support to relatives can also be a hedonist, but only on the condition that his good deeds make him happier every minute.

What is a hedonist afraid of?

The most terrible word for hedonists is “debt”. If you tell him that he must do something or that his obligation includes doing the following, the response will be blame and indifference.

Any resistance in his body that separates him from receiving pleasure, an action that is useless in the opinion of the hedonist, brings the human mechanism into a stupor. He turns into a negative character, both for society as a whole and for his family and friends.

A hedonist can be the most responsible person, fulfill all orders efficiently and on time, but there is no need to push and rush him, and, especially, to impose your own opinion on him.

Hedonists among us

Taking a close look at your friends, colleagues at work, family and friends, it is easy to identify a hedonist. These are mostly creative people who lead a different lifestyle from the majority of people, often look or strive to appear younger than their age, can be very active, or have a philosophical outlook on life. They have a distinctive sense of humor, self-irony, are vulnerable, sensitive, and romantic.

If you can look into their soul and understand them, then it will be interesting for you to spend time with them, communicate and even do business.

Conclusion

To summarize: hedonists are among us and this factor cannot be refuted. Until we understand their soul and share some of their views, it is difficult for us to accept them into our circle.

A hedonist is a person who is able to bring benefit to society without causing harm to his beliefs and principles.

Your choice to become a hedonist or not to accept this teaching at all, but to respect a person who is capable of being happy is simply necessary, because the world develops only with a positive attitude towards him, and not vice versa.

Try to answer a number of questions: how developed is hedonism in you, which of your friends would you define as a true hedonist, and evaluate your attitude towards this term?

Our society is structured in such a way that rarely can anyone call themselves an absolutely happy person; there is always a reason for dissatisfaction, be it material wealth, unsatisfactory work, health problems or in relationships with loved ones.

And people who know how to enjoy life and be happy in any conditions, as a rule, become pariahs.

So, hedonist - a person who knows how to take everything from life and, in some cases, to share pleasures with others, because his main goal is to obtain pleasure and a feeling of happiness.

The history of the origins of hedonism

Hedonism, as a doctrine that considers the highest good to be pleasure from life, was formulated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristippus. Another ancient philosopher, Epicurus, believed that pleasure was the result of a successful life and believed that it was achieved through freedom from anxiety.

Subsequently, Freud, while analyzing this teaching, wrote that a person is a hedonist from birth, but changes over the course of life, learns to control himself in order to comply with standards, and is able to derive pleasure from carrying out a number of actions, first of all by putting effort into it.

Philosopher Henry Sidgwick shared hedonism into two types– psychological and ethical.

1. Psychological Hedonism is characteristic of people who strive to increase their own pleasure and avoid suffering.
2. Etic hedonism differs in that a person strives for selfish satisfaction (hedonic egoism), or, in addition to his own, to satisfy the needs of others (universal hedonism).

Thus, hedonism is a whole belief and value system with the goal of obtaining the highest pleasure, not momentary, but permanent. It would seem that every person in society strives for this, but the methods used by hedonists are by no means acceptable to everyone.

Methods of obtaining pleasure used by hedonists

Hedonists are confident that their goal is to violate the norms of morality and ethics. They are rarely interested in the opinions and comfort of others. So, hedonists mainly use to enjoy:

• alcoholic drinks;
• sex;
• food;
• variety of entertainment;
• friends and family;
• fame and recognition;
• work.

They also know how to enjoy contemplation of the surrounding world, travel, organizing various events.

What prevents you from being a hedonist?

Psychologists believe that only a person himself is capable of assessing his condition, and this assessment will consist of what he expects from life and how he relates to various situations that happen to him. So, one can enjoy an omelette to the fullest, while another needs to visit an expensive restaurant and enjoy the delights of culinary excellence in a special atmosphere. In this case, both will receive equal pleasure.

There is also a distortion of concepts in intimate relationships. For some, it is enough to make love once a week with their wife, while others need daily intimacy, preferably with a change of partners.

A hedonist can be called someone who in his own consciousness has his own gradation of happiness and realizes himself by looking back at it. At the same time, the hedonist is firmly convinced that builds his own happiness.

Such people constantly try to achieve more, because they realize that using drugs or alcohol for short-term pleasure, they themselves will suffer from it later. Therefore, they try to have fun without harming others.

Hedonists perform good deeds when they receive satisfaction from them, many of them I like to give joy. So there is still a difference between a hedonist and an egoist.

Fears of hedonists

Most of all hedonists afraid of obligations. They are absolutely indifferent to the fact that “they have to do something in the name of something.” Everything that is done under pressure and does not give pleasure, in the opinion of a hedonist, is useless and horrifies him.

Hedonists You can’t impose your opinion and insist on something, he must do everything himself, willingly, otherwise the result will be negative, and the emotions will be exclusively negative.

If you are able to find a common language with a hedonist, then when communicating with you, he will will share positive things and it will be interesting with him. As a rule, hedonists associate themselves with creativity, try to lead an original lifestyle, are very active and inquisitive, with a wonderful sense of humor, but at the same time very vulnerable and sensitive.

Most people find it difficult to accept hedonists for who they are; to do this, you need to understand their worldview. Hedonists can bring great benefits to society by living in accordance with their beliefs.

Be that as it may, but people capable find a reason to be happy, worthy of respect, because the main condition for the development of society is the receipt of positive emotions, which are one of the driving forces of progress.

Hedonism is a philosophical movement, the essence of which is that pleasure is the most important desire of humanity. The term comes from the Greek " Hedone”and literally means pleasure.

What is HEDONISM - meaning, definition in simple words.

In simple terms, hedonists believe that the meaning of life and the greatest good for a person lies in obtaining pleasure. And any manifestation of pain and suffering is evil.

Hedonism and society.

As a rule, hedonism presupposes an individual position of a person, inextricably linked with egoism. What does it mean that each person strives to seek his own good in all spheres of life.

A more developed form of hedonism is - utilitarianism. This concept contains the principles of the common good. the value of any action is determined by its contribution to overall utility in relation to the increase in benefit for the whole society.

Hedonism from a psychological point of view.

From a psychological point of view, people are initially built in such a way as to desire exclusively pleasure in all its forms. This is an absolutely normal and healthy feature of any individual.