Hedonism Attitudinal Pleasure

Hedonism is an objective Value Theory which asserts that the only intrinsically valuable thing is pleasure. However, it does not mean pleasure in the sense it is typically thought of. Hedonists believe there are two types of pleasure: physical pleasure and attitudinal pleasure. Many people believe that physical pleasure is the important pleasure for modern Hedonists; however, this is not the case. Though physical pleasure may contribute to your attitudinal pleasure, they are not good in and of themselves. The type of pleasure which Hedonists feel is necessary for a good life is attitudinal pleasure, more specifically, happiness. For a Hedonist, the way to have a good life is by maximizing pleasure, or happiness, and minimizing pain, or unhappiness. …show more content…
First, most people know from experience that the harder you try to obtain happiness the less likely you are to succeed in obtaining it. This poses a problem for Hedonism; if happiness is to be our ultimate goal in order for us to have a good life, then it makes sense to try to obtain happiness. However, as stated above, typically the more focus you place on something such as finding happiness, the less likely you are to get it. Though this contradiction seems like it could prove Hedonism to be wrong, it fails to do so. A Hedonist could simply say that there is no direct path to happiness, and attempting to obtain happiness this way is incorrect; instead one should focus on things which make us happy for their own sake, such as a …show more content…
Let us say that I am an avid book collector and reader. I have a massive collection of books that I enjoy reading very much. However, there is a fire and all of my beloved books are destroyed and my eyesight is damaged. It is very true that I would be saddened by losing all of my books, but I would likely be most upset that my eyesight has been damaged. Even if I happen to rebuild my book collection there is still the fact of my damaged eyesight. In this case, something other than my happiness of book collecting and reading has managed to lessen my well-being, and that cannot be the case if Hedonism is true. Overall Hedonism has many attractive qualities. Most people want to be happy, and most people do not want to feel pain. Additionally, many people like the idea of choosing their own path to happiness, and being in charge of deciding what is best for their well-being. Hedonism gives people the opportunity for this. However, as I have shown here, there are several occasions where it seems that happiness is not the only thing that truly makes a life good or