Hedonism

[Ominous Lord Spoonblade]

Yeah, that's my entire point. Not metaphysical abstractions or God or anything like that. Just instinct. Life contains its own meaning. Happiness is the victory of the instincts through the mind.

But often following your instincts is seen as negative behaviour (ie. the stigmas attatched to many forms of hedonism such as promiscuous sex -to name the obvious one). And I think it is safe to say that following your instincts is very frequently engaging in some hedonistic activity. Well, maybe there is a different definition of instinct besides eat, sleep, procreate and follow your whims that I am missing? Granted ignoring these base instincts frequently could definately lead to some inner turmoil (or starvation lol)...but can you really find meaning in them more than anything else, and does happiness automatically imply that there is meaning? Or am I missing what you mean by instincts here...

[Jack]

But often following your instincts is seen as negative behaviour (ie. the stigmas attatched to many forms of hedonism such as promiscuous sex -to name the obvious one). And I think it is safe to say that following your instincts is very frequently engaging in some hedonistic activity. Well, maybe there is a different definition of instinct besides eat, sleep, procreate and follow your whims that I am missing? Granted ignoring these base instincts frequently could definately lead to some inner turmoil (or starvation lol)...but can you really find meaning in them more than anything else, and does happiness automatically imply that there is meaning? Or am I missing what you mean by instincts here...

Philippe Rushton put forward the idea that whites and Asians have a certain 'reproductive strategy' he called 'k' - quality. Basically long term relationships, a handful of kids, lots of time and investment, etc. Love is an instinct Hate is its other side. While everyone does have the promiscuous thing going, for whites and Asians the quality tendency is pretty much built in because of natural selection in freezing cold weather in north Eurasia where you need to invest time, plan long into the future, etc., in order to survive and pass on your genes. Promiscuity might make blacks happy but I'm not sure it brings happiness (eudaimonia = a live well lived) for whites or Asians. By meaning I meant a sense of value, importance, and happiness (different happiness for different races, I think) is a sense of acquiring/becoming/achieving that value.

[Moody]

Also, 'hedonism' to the ancients was not the greedy and indulgent behavior we think of it being today.
Rather, in his quest for 'pleasure', the hedonist sought to avoid pain and unhappiness; like the Buddhist he realised that pleasure itself [as in desire] brought pain in its train.

So hedonism tended towards an ascetic neutrality.
This is the paradox of hedonism;

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...0of%20hedonism

[Iconöclast]

All forms of hedonism are pig ethics.

[Siegmund]

All forms of hedonism are pig ethics.

I tend to agree. There is little nobility or dignity in the pursuit of pleasure as an end in itself.

[Jack]

Can someone define hedonism, then?

[Iconöclast]

Can someone define hedonism, then?

The pursuit of pleasure above all else.

[anti-climacus]

Utilitarianism is too daft for a functioning society to live in. American Media/the New York, L.A., and Washington D.C. version of America is hedonism in it's prime.

[Jack]

The pursuit of pleasure above all else.

And what type of pleasure? Immediate sensual joy, or eudaimonia type happiness?

[Iconöclast]

And what type of pleasure? Immediate sensual joy, or eudaimonia type happiness?

Modern hedonism is the "sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll" type. Epicurean hedonism is more "cautious" pleasure, which rejects things such as mathematics as it does not relate to pleasure. Utilitarianism is the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount of people--I shouldn't have to explain the flaws in that.