Research Question 1
- What is hedonism and where does hedonism originate from?
Hedonism is a system of philosophy which advocates the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain as primary objectives (Ideas of the Great Philosophers by William S. Sahakian & Mabel L. Sahakian)
The basic idea behind hedonistic thought is pleasure is the only thing that is for a person. Hedonism originated from several schools of Hedonist thought, some emphasize momentary sensual pleasures while others devote equal attention to spiritual pleasures as well. The Egoistic school, strive for the utmost self-gratification, irrespective of any painful consequences to others but the Ideal Utilitarians, who approve only of those pleasures to which each individual is rightfully entitled and advocate as a goal the greatest possible benefits for all mankind.
Cyrenaic Hedonism
The Cyrenaic school, founded by Aristippus (435-356 b.c), advocated immediate pleasures as the chief goal in life. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" It was their view that every momentary pleasure should be enjoyed to the full, lest the opportunity for such experience be lost forever. These Hedonists are not concerned with a possible future life but only with the pleasures of their present life, and they insist that, since pleasure is the only good, everyone should take advantage of all opportunities to enjoy such pleasures.
Epicureanism
Epicurus (342-270 b.c) did not agree with the Cyrenaic in their indiscriminate acceptance af all pleasures, for he knew that many pleasures are detrimental and consequently should be avoided. Too often those who have tried to follow the philosophy of "eating, drinking, and making merry, for tomorrow we die" have encountered disaster because they did not die on the morrow, but lived to suffer the consequences of excessive or ill-chosen pleasures.
1 comments:
In my opinion, besides looking at the classic school's opinion about hedonism which is important in philosophical aspect, we must go through etymology view. Etymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.
Word 'hedonism' derived from Greek word, hedone which means 'delight' or 'pleasure'. Pleasure includes mental states of happiness, enjoyment and entertainment. So, this show that hedonism is culture that seek for happiness and enjoyment through the medium of entertainment.
For example, teenagers nowadays are exposed to the irrelevant entertainment because they are so easy to access a lot of entertainment such as electronic media, live concert and sometimes leads to dangerous way of having happiness and enjoyment such as illegal racing so called "mat rempit".
So, I hope this brief explanation on word 'hedonism' originate from can give us some idea on the question 'what is hedonism and where does hedonism originate from?'
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