The Pleasure Principle

stating that all humans are self-centered, seeking to secure pleasures and avoid pain. In other words, everything that one does is simply for the sake of gaining pleasure. To Epicurus, pleasure is the only intrinsic good and it is the foundation for all human choices and all evaluation of things as good and bad. In this context, pleasure is good, resulting from getting what you want, and pain is bad, in which you do not. Thus, gaining pleasure means satisfying desires and freedom from: (1)…

between Eudaimonia and hedonia as potentially different motivations, routes, or forms of well-being. This week, choose one small activity that seems eudaimonic (mostly about being your best self) and another that seems more hedonic (mostly about pleasure). Do them both. For the written portion of the assignment, write a short essay (250-300 words) that: briefly describes the activities, and why/how you identified them as eudaimonic or hedonic. Also reflect on the consequences of each. For…

However, if I had to pick out one aspect of More’s Utopian society that stuck out to me in an interesting fashion, it would be the Utopians’ definition of what pleasure truly means in their society, and, I have various reasons to think so in that regard. First of all, I found it interesting how the Utopians associated the term pleasure with the term of “happiness,” especially considering that the two terms do not appear to be very ambiguous with one another. However, they ground their reason…

In his book, Pleasure and the Good Life, Fred Feldman introduces an idea known as Default Hedonism. Default hedonism can be broken down into three separate claims that tie together in a single formula. Before default hedonism is defined, Feldman shares that some assumptions about pleasure and pain should be made. The first two assumptions address pleasure. The first assumption is that pleasures are certain feelings or sensations that result in an “episode.” According to Feldman, “episodes” have…

was able to discover and analyze the text could come to some form of conclusion whether or not Augustine ceased to pursuit of pleasure at the end of his conversion. With the context that was provided through the text along with the Piper’s article on Christian Hedonism, in my personal judgment, I came to the conclusion that Augustine did not cease his pursuit of pleasure after being converted, but would say that he began his journey as a Christian hedonist after his conversion. According to…

Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is based on the idea that our moral worth of our actions is only determined by its involvement to overall utility in maximizing happiness or pleasure in society. It is, then, the total utility of individuals which is important here, the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. “Utility, after which the doctrine is named, is a measure in economics of the relative satisfaction from, or desirability of, the consumption of goods.” (mustin, 2008) It seems…

In the article, Why Smiles Generate Leniency, researchers Marianne LaFrance and Marvin A. Hecht, explore the smile-leniency effect. Their first objective is to see if different types of smiles affect the degree of leniency that is shown. The researchers define the smile leniency effect as the phenomena when "smiling can attenuate judgments of possible wrongdoing." They present some background research by Forgas supporting this effect which found that teachers were more lenient with students who…

In most cases, people believe that extrinsic rewards like money, material goods, trophies, and so forth is truly the best way to motivate a person. On the contrary, Daniel H. Pink's Drive, reveals that is not true. Furthermore, Pink argues that motivation through extrinsic incentives or what he calls motivation 2.0 is an outdated system that should replace Motivation 3.0. According to pink motivation 3.0 is an intrinsic incentive, where completing a task is self rewarding. Additionally, Pink…

us under the governance of “Two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. For pain and pleasure dictates how we live, the decisions we make and the chains of cause and effect. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure” (Sandel, 2007). While determining these factors, problems begin to arise. What is defined as pleasure and what is considered pain? One can argue that pleasure, and a freedom from anything-painful are the only ideals…

• Do you agree with Mill’s assertion that some pleasures are higher than others? What would you consider higher and lower pleasures? JS Mill's has been depicted as one of the most prominent English-speaking philosophers of the 19th century, Mills wrote “it is better to be human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. Simply meaning a human is higher than a pig and Socrates is higher than a fool. Mills explains how to differentiate…