The Psychology and Ethics of Hedonism
Fear is the expectation that something bad will happen or is about to happen. It is a powerful and unpleasant feeling caused by the awareness of danger. Fear is what drives us to do something or avoid it altogether. This is how we live our lives each and every day. The pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of what causes us pain. It’s hardwired in our brains, a way of life. It’s what essentially keeps us alive and how we are able to keep going in this crazy world of ours.
Origins of Hedonism
The psychological theory of Hedonism is that humans are constructed in a way that they desire pleasure solely for survival purposes. The ethical theory of Hedonism is that humans have a basic moral obligation to maximize their pleasure and happiness.
Hedonism was founded by Cyrenaic philosopher Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates in 3rd century B.C.E. He taught this school of philosophy at the Cyrenaic school of hedonism as it was a branch of moral philosophy. He believed a good life rested on the belief that pleasure should be the top value among humans and pain the lowest. Humans should avoid inflicting and suffering pain completely. He warned to use good judgment and to exercise control, “To possess, not to be possessed.”
Hedonism really started to thrive after Epicurus made his own contributions to the ethics of it. He later went on to found the school of ethical philosophy and go on to make some great contributions to science and philosophy, before the scientific method was a refined method at all.
Epicurus believed that happiness was of the highest value for humans, but did not believe identifying happiness with pleasure. He believed that based on psychological hedonism, pleasure was the only thing that humans could and would do because it benefited their own purpose. He believed that ethics could be applied to hedonism. He deemed that not all pleasures were decision-worthy and not all pain should be avoided. Instead, humans should use proper consideration to see what would be best for long-term self-interest. One should sacrifice short-term pleasure if doing so would create greater pleasure in the long-term. Meaning, short-term pleasure may result in pain thereafter if not thinking in the long-term.
Modern Day Hedonism
This brings to mind the quote, “Eat, Drink, and Be Happy.” The majority of humans do this without a thought about what consequences await them in the long-term. What are we eating and drinking and how much of it are we consuming? How is it going to make us feel in the short-term/long-term? What is the expense money-wise and what is the cost to our health? Do we know what it is that we are really consuming? Do we even care, as long as it makes us feel good right now?
We are now in modern-day hedonism and we don’t even know it. We are blissfully unaware of what we are doing and why we do the things that we do. We have been conditioned from birth. We are born to be workers, and to work for someone. Our goals are to make money to pay our bills, and to buy things to make us happy. We are a society in debt and don’t know how to get out of it. We only know how to buy. Although some of us know how to sell to those of us who buy.
We are a consumer species, consuming all the wrong things. But this is the modern-day human condition. This is what we have been conditioned to do. How can it be any other way? Our parents and our parent's parents have known no other way of life. We finish school and without any life-experience go back to school again without truly knowing what our mission in life is.
We start accumulating debt while trying to figure out who we really are. Then the pressure starts when we finally finish school. We must find a job and start a family, all the while trying to pay off the debt we’ve already started to collect. We’ve never figured out who we really are or what we really want out of life. We just know we need to make money to survive. It’s all become a cycle. This is how we’ve arrived at the modern-day human condition and modern-day Hedonism.
I’m here to tell you, these are outdated rules and no longer need to be followed. We have arrived in the new world where everything is available to us. We get to decide what we want for our lives, no one else!
Philosophy is everything, it can, and will save us all!
Philosophy was the birthplace of everything. Humankind and humanity have been shaped by the rebels who we now call Philosophers, faults and all. The societies that have been created and we are now living were shaped purely on thoughts and discussions, and the criticism of those thoughts and discussions.
There was a time where thought, wonder, and ideas were all that humans had. There was a time where we were unable to test and prove our ideas with the expensive technology we now rely on today. Even now, with all the advancements we have created we still have trouble convincing the skeptics. Funnily enough, skepticism is also a branch of philosophy that was taught around 273 B.C.E., proving further that philosophy has shaped humankind.
We are now in a society that conditions the human to act a certain way, and to think a certain way. If the human strays from the way society believes the human should be conditioned, the consequences can be very negative for the human. This is not societies issue, but the human's problem to deal with internally because they have been conditioned to feel this way. Society means the company you choose to keep. For example, parents, siblings, family in general, education systems, government, friends, church groups, and even the company you work for.
Once a human strays from their conditioned state, they will more than likely no longer be accepted by society. They will now suffer internally for it. They have a choice because this is what makes us human, CHOICES. They can choose to bury their feelings and conform to a condition they no longer agree with, or they can accept their newfound freedom and find a new group that will accept them for who they are. Hopefully, some of their old society will learn to accept them for who they are in the long-term.
This is what philosophy is all about. This is what the human condition is all about. We have the right to wonder about what is, what was, and what could be. We have the right to have ideas, questions, and have those questions answered. We have the right to discuss our ideas of wonder and come up with new ideas. If this was not what the human condition was, the world would not be what it is now. We would not have religion, medical advancements, math, science, music, art, or anything that makes life worth living. Without the thought processes that human individuals were born with, the world would be a very different place.
A famous quote by French philosopher René Descartes goes “Je pense, donc je suis” or in Latin “Cogito, ergo sum,” which translates to “I think, therefore I am.” We are species of thought and through the thought process, we can create anything we can imagine. Our limitations are the ones we set for ourselves, in our minds.
Final Thoughts
Epicurus had a beautiful theory about the human mind. He believed that the brain resided in the chest. Meaning that the mind and the body were connected as one. They were not separate from one another. The mind is affected by the body and the body is affected by the mind.
This is something I have come to understand by seeking out knowledge about the world in which we all live. I have sought out pleasure and pain in all the wrong ways and eventually the right ways. I have come to the conclusion that there are positive and negative aspects of both. What they both have in common is when you seek either of them out you gain knowledge, pure and simple. Ultimately the knowledge you gain shows you what truly constitutes true happiness and not the superficial aspects of happiness.
If you pride yourself on being a hard worker make sure it’s not just for the money. Ensure the money your making, for whatever company you work for is for the greater good of humanity. Make sure that money your saving is for something other than short-term pleasure. If it’s not, it will cause you the greatest pain and regret of your life in the long-term. You will resent the reason(s) you were working so hard in the first place. Eating and drinking unhealthy food because it tastes delicious will be great for pleasure in the short-term but detrimental to your health for the long-term. Eating healthy and being mindful may not be pleasurable in the short-term, but your body and mind will love you for it in the long-term and you will be a happier, healthier person.
Self-sacrifice can cause pain in the short-term but can cause pleasure for the long-term. As a result, it causes you to be happy with the life you have chosen for yourself. Humans have the ability to choose the life they live, we only have one. It’s only with the knowledge we acquire from all experiences and knowledge gained we can make informed choices. Avoidance altogether will not make for good life decisions. I believe the study of Philosophy & Science can get humanity to a better place in society as a whole. We can become a more equal, kinder, and more mindful society if we look at the great thinkers of philosophy.
We must start consuming more knowledge instead of things! Knowledge is power and it will progress humanity in amazing and positive ways where everyone will benefit.
