There isn’t a lot to be happy about let alone hopeful and if you make that your life goal the minute something gets in the way of that , well, your whole reason for living is down the drain. The first and obvious thing people know to be true in life is that life is suffering, pain, and misery. Holding to such a worldview seems fagile and shallow.
So why put it as the highest priority?
To those of u who aren't Hidensits, then wouldn't that drain all the value out of living for u? If u don't live to be happy what are u living for and why? As fare as I'm aware, creatures don't "DO" anything apart from Desire,Pleasure, or Happiness. It what makes em fufilled.
Hidenism - The doctrine the pleasure or happiness is the highest good. Devotion to pleasure as a way of life
Comments (1)
I take issue with the phrasing of the question and the definition provided.
Is it true? Well it's a subjective worldview that is difficult to both objectively justify or falsify.
Hedonism being the view that happiness is the highest good is based on a biased perception from hedonists themselves, athough pleasure yes.
The thing is that pretty much all ethical schools of philosophy from Ancient Greece believed in "Happiness as the highest good", this comes from Aristotle's concept of Eudamonia however the different schools argued where Eudamonia comes from. Hedonists believed pleasure as the highest good and in the absence of pain, Stoics believed Eudamonia came from good deeds and moral character, Consequentialists believed Eudamonia was integral to action.
As for my personal opinion, I'm anti-hedonist. I believe pleasure is necessary but should not be the source of happiness or the basis of one's worldview. Hedonists rejected pain and suffering, as a philosophical pessimist, I believe pain suffering and grief are innate and necessary parts of the human condition. Hedonists also completely butcher Aristotle's thinking.