The Pursuit of Pleasure (A Hedonist's Perspective)

'The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.' ~ Oscar Wilde.

Humans are often motivated by primal desires. Impulses that we cannot (and sometimes do not) want to control. However, some people would seek sensual fulfilment as part of the pursuit of 'Hedonism' - The Greek word for pleasure.

Psychologically and evaluatively hedonism makes two main claims. Firstly that only pain and pleasure experiences are of use to us. Secondly that pleasure is the highest valued intrinsic good of human life.

Examination of whether this is categorically sound could suggest otherwise.

CowLogic: 'Hedonism is the effect of misplaced goals. When one seeks only to derive pleasure from a given situation, they are missing the big picture. Pleasure is transient. Short term inhibition of dopamine from neurotransmitters. With transience, transcendence is impossible. One cannot merely float between events seeking a singular and disappearing goal.'

By nature, humans are creatures of habit, therefore accessible, repetitive goals such as seeking pleasure are appealing to the nature of the mind. However, if it were to become the sole focus of the individual, this could cause complications...

Letiki: 'They are very short term, and can become intervened with much less pleasant emotions if a consistent sense of overall happiness is not achieved. It would be very limiting. From a social perspective, it does not imply any benefit. It's only a philosophy that a few can indulge in I think, as if everyone were to become hedonistic it could well cause serious problems.'

What could be described as becoming a 'selfish nation' would mean raised levels of self interest within communities, possibly promoting egotistical elitism. Whilst failure may be educational, it is not a pleasant condition and continual subjection to a single state of being may cause issues within the mind of the character.

567ajt: 'Because pleasure and pain are important experiences to deny them would be repression. Basically: hedonism acknowledges both pain and pleasure; this is significant in understanding ourselves and others. To know what pleasures us and what hurts us is important to know for personal development individually as well as part of a social group.'

Certainly, there are benefits to such sensations, however whether or not yielding to temptation is always profitable to us begs a bigger question: Does excess eradicate?

It could be said there are: 'Too many temptations to put into one group.' And classification of such urges would be subjective to individuals. With so many different ideas about what counts as 'pleasure' and 'pain' it would seem almost impossible to define temptations under a universal title.

Despite this: (567ajt): 'If we are talking about drugs and alcohol for example, physical eradication could take place, and thus should NEVER be put into practice. Besides, the temptations of sex and pleasure - if you call them 'temptations' - is something we should not even attempt to eradicate.'

Whilst it is foolish to fight human nature, there are levels to which we should combat our desires, not to remain conventional, but for our safety, peace of mind and personal satisfaction.

InfinityAndBeyond: 'I think there's nothing wrong with pleasure but it shouldn't be a sole purpose to everything you do... I think not all pleasure is necessarily good and not all pain is necessarily bad.'

Hedonism remains a controversial philosophical movement, the ideology that pleasure should be your sole pursuit in life may be viewed by some as quite extreme. It would be fair to say that we all slightly conditioned to be hedonistic, in the sense that spending each day of our lives in physical or mental pain would prevent us from functioning. Ironically, it is part of life's cycle to present trials of an unpleasant nature that we must overcome.

This can only help us grow as people once we experience either the success of failure in rising to meet these challenges. To dedicate ourselves to securing what is essentially only half of the fabric of our world seems somewhat futile.

'The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.' ~ Aristotle