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How hedonism is the only way to live a valuable life

The Transcended Omniverse

Well-Known Member
There are many arguments out there to support hedonism (the idea that physical pleasure and the avoidance of pain) is the only thing of value in life. But I will present to you my own personal argument. Our good feelings (physical pleasure) are the only things that truly drive our actions aside from those types of actions driven by fear, hate, jealousy, etc.

Take, for example, sexual acts. The only way a person can engage in those types of acts that a horny person would is if he/she has his/her feelings of sexual arousal. In other words, he/she has to feel horny; otherwise, having sex would be a futile exercise. If he/she had complete anhedonia (absence of pleasure), then if he/she were to attempt to engage in those sexual activities, tones, acts, and gestures anyway, then these expressions would now be completely devoid.

They would be acts that are not driven at all. The person would report that sex would be pointless and meaningless now without his/her sexual feelings. Feelings are the sole drive behind all our actions. Acts, tones, and gestures without their associated feelings to drive them would be completely devoid expressions just like this example I gave with the anhedonic person engaging in sex.

Imagine if you performed enraged acts, tones, and gestures without actually feeling angry. You would report back that those said expressions were completely devoid and pointless. You would report back that it was like performing enraged expressions for no reason at all out of the blue. Now here is where I am going to point out to you how the only way your life can be valuable and worth living to you.

Living life, pursuing your dreams, engaging in hobbies, being there for someone, living for someone, helping someone, making the world a better place, etc. all require their associated feelings to drive said expressions. Otherwise, these expressions would be pointless. Your life would be of no value without these feelings to drive those expressions. Your life would not be worth living at all.

Living life, exploring nature, pursuing discoveries, pursing a goal, dream, or hobby requires a feeling of motivation, inspiration, or enjoyment. Otherwise, if you had complete anhedonia or if you struggled with depression, then doing these activities should be of no value to you. They should be completely pointless and devoid activities. If you somehow thought that they would be of value to you anyway and would somehow make your life worth living anyway, then you would be wrong. You would only be delusional and fooling yourself here.

Lastly, I think neuroscience even backs up this whole claim of mine. The reward system of our brains is what is responsible for our feelings of love, joy, and motivation. These feelings are not just simply pleasant and good feelings. We need these feelings to drive us to live life. Those who struggle with depression or anhedonia are the very unfortunate ones. They have no reason to live. Their lives cannot be meaningful and worth living at all.

These people would only be fooling themselves to think otherwise. Or they could be experiencing a very small amount of these good feelings in their lives to keep them going. Their reward system might have at least some function to still preserve and maintain at least some drive to live. Otherwise, having complete and utter depression or anhedonia should render one's life not worth living at all.
 

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
What you describe doesn't sound like hedonism to me. I've never heard of anyone making the argument that you're a hedonist because you were aroused during intercourse. That's just called being a human. People who aren't hedonists aren't anti-pleasure, but this is what your argument sounds like.
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
The problems with ethical hedonism are

1. Like any form of consequential ethics, it cannot give reliable guidance because you cannot know for certain the consequences of your actions. Even if you knew the consequences of two course of action, how do you quantify the amount of pleasure or pain each will bring?

2. It doesn't provide an adequate explanation of people's actions or beliefs.

> You do not need agreeable feelings to help some-one: people may help others they actively dislike. Also some good actions are instinctive. Mencius gave the example to running to stop a child from falling down a well. You don't think "its parents will owe me" or "my neighbours will admire me"; you just do it, because that's what normal human beings do. You don't think "that will make me feel good", either.

> It fails to express our senses of duty and justice.
 

Maponos

Welcome to the Opera
Pain and negative emotions are a fully human trait so we shouldn't do anything to avoid them at all costs. I know it's not a comfortable thing to do, but we have to confront them if we are to move on in our lives. That's part of the human experience.
 

loverofhumanity

We are all the leaves of one tree
Premium Member
The problem is we are not just animals but there is a spiritual side to us as well and it is this spiritual side which seeks things like fulfilment and meaning in life and cannot be satisfied with earthly pleasures alone . So what we have then is an empty void or vacuum that people try to fill with pleasures but that at best distracts and when they cannot feel fulfilment or purpose in life, many suicide or are driven to extreme distractions such as drugs or binge drinking.

The only things that can bring fulfilment to the spiritual void within us are:

1: the forgetfulness of self and service of others
2. The Word of God but through deeds not just lip service.
3. Becoming noble and acquiring virtues

If we were purely animals then a hedonistic lifestyle would be adequate but we are not. We are spiritual beings as well which were meant to be noble and virtuous and we cannot distance ourselves too far from our true nature without doing irreparable damage to our life.
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
If we were purely animals then a hedonistic lifestyle would be adequate but we are not.
But we are social and rational animals. The former means that we cannot have satisfactory lives save as members of the human community. The latter that we have the ability to exercise practical wisdom to ensure our choices are the best ones, rather than just acting instinctively.
 

loverofhumanity

We are all the leaves of one tree
Premium Member
But we are social and rational animals. The former means that we cannot have satisfactory lives save as members of the human community. The latter that we have the ability to exercise practical wisdom to ensure our choices are the best ones, rather than just acting instinctively.

Yes so our social integration depends on our application of our higher spiritual forces such as wisdom, tolerance etc. certain beliefs help us to integrate better than others,
 
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