Can you please explain to me what the difference is with hedonism and just being a normal person? I don't understand hedonism, though I'm interested in it as a lifestyle, though I likely won't be labeling myself in that way. Thanks!
What's a normal person? Hedonism, in the extreme, is an addiction to the human side of pleasure. It's an attempt to escape negativity instead of coming to terms with things and learning whatever is needed to be learned. It's essentially procrastination. There's also nothing wrong with that, but bear in mind the fact that homework doesn't do itself, no matter how sunny it is outside.
Hedonism is basically pleasure seeking. The name derives from the Greek word for delight or pleasure.
Doesn't everyone seek pleasure?? Plus I recall that some hedonists here admitted that they are willing to delay gratification (like everyone else).
What makes me a hedonist is my taste buds...no, I don't over eat, but I sure as hell eat the wrong things sometimes...Damn tastebuds......why is that that everything bad for one tastes good, and the healthy stuff puts the taste buds to sleep....LOL
Seeking pleasure implies that we're not satisfied with the way things are at the moment of seeking. Why are things not good enough for us? It's generally microscopic amounts of fear or uncertainty of what's to come, where that fear stems from is worth looking for and addressing. Doesn't mean you don't stop doing pleasurable things, but you stop needing to do pleasurable things to feel good. Pleasure's just a garnish
I'm not an expert on Hedonism, but in my view not all philosophies consider pleasure to be the greatest good. Others may consider devotion, self sacrifice, or even self flagellation to be a greater good than pleasure. They may also believe that pain or unhappiness is not to be avoided. The Stoics, such as Socrates, believed that "virtue is sufficient for happiness" and all things that happen to us should be accepted calmly and without passion. The Cynics believed that a simple, ascetic life was best and rejected wealth, power, sex, and fame. Buddhist seek the "Middle Path". The avoidance of an attachment to both pleasure and pain. So different philosophies meet "normal life" differently. There may be no differance between your normal life and Hedonism, or there may.
I suppose so, but screw the labels. I find things get very messy when you try to assign yourself to a specific group.. I just try for the path of least resistance, which means I could be a Taoist, but since freedom makes me happy I could be considered a Hedonist, since I hold the view that there is no inherent purpose in life besides death I could also be considered a nihilist, etc. etc... There are all these different angles on the exact same thing.. that fact that there is an undeniable experience. And just as a side note, I've been divulging in some astrology as of late and find it interesting that both my western and eastern elements are water([SIZE=13.63636302948px]Watery crab monkey [/SIZE] :beatnik:[SIZE=13.63636302948px])[/SIZE], and Taoism, a very "fluid" philosophy, was the first that really caught hold of me.
I don't know. Is it? I was speaking for myself only, as I could not think of anything else I am hedonistic with really, but taste buds can be re-educated, as well. I was also being humorous and not too serious.
I think there's lots of confusion between the philosophy and the lifestyle, although Epicurus would have disagreed. The lifestyle means, swingers. The philosophy isn't a lifestyle, just a perspective.
as long as it is tempered by consideration for the kind of world everyone must experience living in, good health and a sound mind. when it isn't tempered by consideration, of course, it then becomes just another source of harm.
