Hedonism

Posted on 02 October 2009

There is a word in the English language called Hedonism.

A quick wiki-fu indicates that it originates from a Greek word, like all good philosophical concepts, and even originated from some old, bearded man around 2400 years ago.

Then there is “hedonist” (from Dictionary.com):

(n) a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification.

Ho-hum.  That sounds of a rather negative connotation, n’est-ce pas?

Well, it is.  Heroes are rarely seen in any hedonistic light, and when they are, it is a character flaw that is overcome, from Han Solo the selfish smuggler become war hero to Tony Stark the billionaire playboy/inventor.

But did they really have to give it up to still be noble?

Many villainous characters in stories are shown to be hedonists, from Baron Harokken in Dune to Mr. Omura in Last Samurai, from King Haggard in The Last Unicorn to Dracula in . . . pretty well every story about him.  One and all, they lavished themselves in pleasures.

They were not, though, hedonists, in the truest sense of the philosophy.

See, the negative outlook society seems to associate to hedonism is that it is all about short term gain without any regard for others.  A hedonist, society believes, are so risk and pain adverse that they won’t give the time of day to save someone’s life if their arm hurts too much to lift it and look at their watch.

That is hardly hedonism; that is merely callous disregard.

See, many philosophers—and this humble blogger—are of the opinion that we are fairly hard coded to want to help each other out.  Humans are social animals, after all, and while, yes, there are “lone wolves” here and there, well, that very term for it, derived from another pack animal, is kind of indicative about exceptions to rules.

So, we are social animals by and large, and that means we get pleasure from interaction.  I know I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I help people, and if I have to rationalize it in a hedonistic self-interest way, well, I’m getting an endorphin rush from praise and attention that I’ve been socially coded to enjoy.  That and, as that lovely Coca-Cola commercial says, “If you spread a little love, it will all come back to you.”  So there, “enlightened self-interest” and hedonism get along to make a social, caring person.

OK, so where am I going with this, you might think.  Well, aside from my interest to see more villains that are puritanical and morally rigid, and more heroes that flirt with the gray space and shoot first (like Captain Solo did!), I also think it might help our society lighten up if people were a little more concerned with increasing the net happiness around them instead of adhering to some arbitrary rules based off religious laws founded 4000 years ago.

So, please, do me a favor.  Live in the moment.  I’m not saying for you to throw caution to the wind, or for you to forget about the future, but don’t let it ruin today.  None of us are getting any younger, or if we are, well, eventually you’ll revert back to an egg and sperm too, so you might as well enjoy the here and now.  If an opportunity knocks, and after a little bit of responsible consideration you decide you can afford it, take it and don’t regret it.

Oh, and on that note, don’t regret at all.  Because, you know what, there is happiness to be found everywhere (says the lower-middle class American . . .), but I still think it is possible.  If stinking rich people can be miserable, I’m sure utterly destitute people can be happy.

So yeah, go out and try being a hedonist a little bit.  Perhaps the idea of maximizing your happiness will catch on.  Sad it won’t solve world issues as most people have no clue what would actually make them happy, but maybe it can help out on a smaller scale.