We explain what hedonism is, its currents, characteristics and main representatives in history and today.
What is hedonism?
Hedonism is a philosophical school that thinks that pleasure is what determines the value of an action.
The word “hedonism” comes from the Greek hēdonḗ and means “pleasure”. Hedonists relate pleasure to good and maintain that pleasure guides people's actions.
Hedonism developed in two important periods:
- First period (4th and 3rd centuries BC). In this first period hedonism is in the theory of some sophists, Cyrenaics and Epicureans.
- Second period (18th century). In this second period hedonism was developed through the theories of the utilitarian philosophers J. Bentham and JS Mill.
History of hedonism
hedonism It has its origins in ancient Greece around the 4th century BC. C. During this period there were two great schools of philosophical thought that were characterized as forms of hedonism: the Cyrenaic, led by Aristippus of Cyrene, and the Epicurean, led by Epicurus of Samos.
During the Middle Ages, hedonism was abolished by Christian thought. For Christians, the body was something temporary, just a vehicle that could fall in the face of the temptation of sin. Pleasure was associated with selfishness and individuality, feelings foreign to the spiritual search promoted by the Catholic Church.
However, In the 18th century, hedonism regained some prominence thanks to the work of the British philosopher and economist Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill, creators of utilitarianism. This form of hedonism identified pleasure as a useful good, which was the goal of society because it enacted the good of many and not a single individual.
Thus hedonism came to the present, often considered a perversion or moral deviation, and being reduced to a chaotic and stigmatized form of pleasure, far from what it was in its origins.
Characteristics of hedonism
Hedonism, as a philosophy of pleasure, meets the following characteristics:
- It is a philosophical and moral doctrine that understands pleasure as a good that must be sought and developed.
- Pleasure can be both physical and spiritual. It is associated with any state of absence of suffering
- As a philosophical school, hedonism emerged in classical Greece along with the Cyrenaic and Epicurean schools.
- It is generally considered an individualistic way of thinking even though hedonism can be found in social welfare doctrines such as utilitarianism.
- Most hedonists try to pleasure and suffering as if they were variants of heat and cold, that is, that have different degrees of intensity measurable through a scale.
- hedonism associates the idea of pleasure with the idea of good which can be individual, private, social, spiritual or physical.
- The hedonistic pleasure does not imply selfish disinterest but rather promotes a search for good based on the absence of pain and suffering.
Types of hedonism
The two great schools of hedonism were the Cyrenaic school and the Epicurean school.
The Cyrenaic school
The Cyrenaic school was founded between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. C. by Aristippus of Cyrene, disciple of Socrates, and one of the great classical representatives of hedonism.
This current raised a skeptical position on knowledge. The Cyrenaeans believed that only sensations were true and among them, they defended what they called “pleasures in motion”, which resembled pleasure and consisted of light and soft movement. The only good possible to choose was pleasure, understood as individual, immediate and sensitive.
The epicurean school
The Epicurean school emerged from the thought of Epicurus of Samos and his followers, who affirmed that pleasure was the beginning and the end of a happy life. The Epicureans understood pleasure as a stable state or sensation and not as something immediate or temporary.
Furthermore, they linked pleasure with the absence of pain. for them pleasure was intended to avoid suffering at all costs and this brought them closer to happiness through the use of prudence and reason.
Self-control and management of pleasures allowed us to avoid future suffering, which is why The Epicureans practiced ataraxia (peace of mind) as behavior towards static, calm pleasure.
Other forms of hedonism
In addition to the Cyrenaic and Epicurean schools, there are and were other forms of hedonism, less popular but equally practiced by different groups and at different times in history.
- eudaemonism. Introduced by Aristotle, eudaemonism affirms that pleasure, understood as “good,” is the means to achieving happiness, which is the ultimate goal of the human being. Eudemonists believed that to achieve happiness one must act in accordance with nature, seeking the middle point between the animal (physical) part and the social (mental) part of people.
- Libertinism. It is an extreme form of hedonism that considers that any type of limit on morality is unnecessary and contrary to human nature. Libertinism was defended by the English poet and writer John Wilmot (1647-1680), as well as by the famous Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) in his literary writings, which earned him prison and finally the asylum, as well as prohibition. of his works by the Catholic Church.
- utilitarianism. Born between the 18th and 19th centuries by the British philosophers Jeremy Bentham, James Mill and John Stuart Mill, utilitarianism gave a twist to traditional hedonism by directing it to the idea of the social well-being of the majority. This current thought of pleasure as something useful, not as a sensation or a feeling.
- Contemporary hedonism. Promoted by the French philosopher Michel Onfray (1959-) and by the French writer and sexologist Valérie Tasso (1969-), current hedonism seeks to find a way to live happily in contemporary society. Consider that the passions of the body are allies and not enemies, and prioritize the idea of enjoying the present moment instead of thinking about the worries of the future.
Representatives of hedonism
Different thinkers and philosophers, such as Aristippus or Jeremy Bentham, wrote and promoted hedonism in one way or another. Among them we find the following:
- Aristippus (435-350 BC). Greek philosopher born in the city of Cyrene, he was a disciple of Socrates and founded Cyrenaic hedonism. He promoted a life based on immediate, soft and fragile pleasure.
- Epicurus (341-c. 270 BC). Greek philosopher, founder of Epicureanism and rational hedonism. He founded his own school, nicknamed “The Garden”, which allowed the entry of women, slaves and prostitutes. His work is known from the comments and compilations of the Roman philosopher Lucretius and his De rerum natura.
- John Wilmot (1647-1680). Second Earl of Rochester, he was the author of an important libertine poetic work, a disciple of the thinker Thomas Hobbes and other French libertines who sought to rescue Epicurus, such as Théophile de Viau or Claude LePetit.
- Marquis de Sade (1740-1814). French philosopher and writer, his work was persecuted by the Catholic Church for promoting pleasure and the path of sensuality.
- Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). English philosopher, economist, thinker and writer, he was the founder of utilitarianism, a mode of thought that brought him closer to democratic and progressive aspects, with the objective of achieving “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” of citizens. For utilitarianism, what is good is what is useful, and what is useful increases pleasure and decreases pain.
There are other thinkers who promoted hedonism and were part of different currents, such as James and Stuart Mill, who worked alongside Jeremy Bentham. The same thing happens today with Michel Onfray, who defends a form of contemporary hedonism, without belonging to a specific school.
Main opponents of hedonism
Hedonism has many opponents, like Christianity who opposed all forms of thought that gave more value to what is experienced by the body than to what is experienced by the soul.
On the other hand, philosophers such as the British George Edward Moore (1873-1958), founder of analytical philosophy and defender of philosophical realism, dedicated a good part of his work Principia Ethica from 1903 to the refutation of hedonism, which he accused of falling into a “naturalistic fallacy” by conceiving pleasure as the highest good.
Similarly, positivist and cognitivist psychologists have suggested that the idea of life based on the pursuit of pleasure leads to dissatisfaction. Instead, they propose the search for commitment, what the American psychologist Martin Seligman (1942-) calls “committed life.”
Hedonism today
Authors and philosophers such as Michel Onfray and Valérie Tasso carry out a contemporary hedonistic trend that does not constitute a unified doctrine as such. They propose a philosophical hedonism that does not involve money or capitalist consumption, but rather pursues “the difficult art of establishing peace with oneself” as Tasso maintains in one of his books.
The British philosopher David Pearce also proposes a form of hedonism. Pearce believes that ethical standards should prevent suffering for all who can feel it. This position is defended in his book The hedonistic imperativewhich is a manifesto for the World Transhumanist Association, of which Pearce is a founding member.
Continue with: Humanism
References
- Laertius, Diogenes. Lives of the most illustrious philosophers. Life of the sophists. Mexico, DF: Editorial Porrúa., 2013.
- Larráyoz, Alejandro Apesteguía. “The logic of existence in classical thinkers: Permanence and relevance of Epicurus and Lucretius.” Carolina: Humanism and Technology (2007): 74-80.
- Room, Jorge Francisco Aguilera. “Pleasure in classical philosophy.” UNAM Philosophy Magazine (1992): 54-66.
- Epicurus. Complete works. Edition and translation by José Vara. Universal Letters Chair (2014).
- Onfray, Michel. The wisdoms of antiquity, Counterhistory of philosophy I. Editorial Anagrama (2013).
