![hedonistic definition of happiness hedonistic definition of happiness](http://www.wisdomination.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/youth-active-jump-happy-40815-1.jpeg)
It’s easier to value hard work and authenticity if you’re confident your life will be pretty pleasurable. But Nozick’s argument depends on people’s lives being of a certain quality. Nozick thought most people would choose not to plug into the machine – proving there was more to life than pleasure and pain. Plus, although you’d feel as though you were experiencing amazing things, you’d be floating in a vat, feeding through a tube. But if you plugged in, you could never unplug. It would respond to your specific desires – you could be a rock star, philosopher or space cowboy depending on what was most pleasurable. Running head: HEDONIC AND EUDAIMONIC WELL-BEING 4 one’s inner nature and deeply held values (Waterman 1993), the realization of one’s true potential (Ryff and Keyes 1995), and the experience of purpose or meaning in life (Ryff 1989). There are also non-hedonistic utilitarianisms on which happiness might be living a life that is objectively fulfilling or satisfying as many of one’s desires as possible or having and satisfying as many desires as possible. Imagine a machine that can plug into your brain and simulate the most pleasurable life you could imagine. According to Mill, happiness pleasure + absence of pain. He developed a thought experiment called the experience machine. The philosopher Robert Nozick wanted people to feel the pinch of measuring life only based on pain and pleasure. That’s where people tend to be more hesitant. What makes hedonism unique is the claim only pleasure and pain matter. That’s not enough to make you a hedonist. Most people will agree pleasure and pain are important for determining the value of something.
![hedonistic definition of happiness hedonistic definition of happiness](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*8xnjsJKlptw8gWN47UApPA.png)
(With evidence to suggest pigs can orgasm for up to fifteen minutes, Mill’s account feels a little incomplete). “It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”, he said. Although sensory pleasures might be the most intense, it was fitting for higher order beings – like humans – to enjoy higher order pleasures – like art.
![hedonistic definition of happiness hedonistic definition of happiness](https://slidetodoc.com/presentation_image_h/c882fcebf4624671121bc7667d65af57/image-2.jpg)
John Stuart Mill believed in a hierarchy of pleasures. Best not to love them to begin with, he suggests. If we live a rich, complex lifestyle we risk suffering more when it ends. Though his name has become synonymous with indulgence – “Epicurean holidays”, a food app called “Epicurious” – he advocated finding pleasure in a simple life with a bland diet. For Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher, pleasure was the absence of pain. There are different perspectives on what pleasure and pain really mean. Where utilitarianism says ethical actions are ones that maximise the overall good of a society, hedonism takes it a step further by defining ‘good’ as pleasure. Hedonism is closely associated with utilitarianism. Hedonism is a philosophy that regards pleasure and happiness as the most beneficial outcome of an action.