Hedonism a Valid Ethical Theory

Hedonism: A Valid Ethical Theory?Diego Gutierrez

88710559

Ethics - PHIL 2306

7-1-16

Diego Gutierrez

88710559

Ethics - PHIL 2306

7-1-16

Hedonism is a philosophical theory that happiness and unhappiness are the only things in life that are valuable in and of themselves. The theory places intrinsic value on wether you are happy or not. According to a hedonist, a good life is one that is filled with happiness. Humans only do things as a means to ultimately be happy. There are different types of pleasures to derive happiness from, physical and attitudinal. Hedonism states that happiness is both necessary and sufficient for living a good life. A philosopher named Robert Nozick challenges hedonism by saying that a good life is not one characterized by inner experiences such as happiness. I agree with him happiness or pleasure is not the only intrinsic good, one can be unhappy and still lead “the good life.”

The theory of hedonism can best be explained by first giving two definitions of goods in the world. There are things that are intrinsically good and instrumentally good. Intrinsically good things are universally valuable such as freedom, happiness, and art. Freedom for example is intrinsically good because it is something you are born with, it is a necessity, it has value to everyone. While instrumentally good things are valuable in what they can do for you. For instance, a hammer is instrumentally good because it helps you hammer in nails. You might need a hammer to build a house and make you happy one day but it isn’t valuable to everyone, it is not essential.

Hedonists believe that a life is good to the extent that it is filled with happiness (pleasure) and bad to the extent it is filled with unhappiness. There are two kinds of pleasure in this world, physical and attitudinal pleasure. Physical pleasure consists of desires satiated by objects like sex, food, and exercise. Attitudinal pleasures are derived from reading, learning, listening to music,...