The Paradox Of Hedonism By W. D. Ross

The paradox of hedonism is the dilemma of a person who pursues happiness solely but never succeeds at achieving it. In this argument, accepting that happiness is our greatest good, it may still be irrational to aim for it directly. Hedonism is not negated by this argument because it simply states that pursing happiness directly might not be the best way to achieve it. There are people that delight or gain happiness at the expense of other people. In this case, Hedonism states that happiness gained from evil deeds can be just as effective in improving our lives as happiness that’s derived from virtue. The two worlds argument is an objection to Hedonism raised W.D. Ross. Hedonist argue that their view not about what makes a society or a world …show more content…
Hedonist believe that happiness is happiness, no matter what the source of it is. On the other hand, a life is said to be good when a person is happy, true, but that alone is not definitive of a good life. As human beings we want to be able to make our own decisions regardless of whether it leads to happiness or not. The main theme of hedonism is that happiness is the only thing, by itself, makes our lives better off. Everything else, according to Hedonism improves our lives only as much as they make us happier. However, as individuals we want our lives to represent our personal beliefs rather than those imposed by external sources, even though it may result in a happier life. When an individual gets hurt either by an injury or disease it causes unhappiness. This unhappiness does not stem solely from the pain of the injury or disease but also from foregone opportunities caused by the injury or disease. Apart from unhappiness from direct physical pain, there is also unhappiness from other sources. Hedonist do not agree with this. They believe that things can only harm an individual if those thing lead that individual to be unhappy. Unhappiness, in itself, is bad for human beings. However, it seems that it could possibly also be a symptom of the loss of something with value to the well being of our lives. Things other than happiness can directly make a difference in an individual’s well