Hedonism - what is it, who is a hedonist, hedonistic functions and lifestyle

This article was developed under the heading: Psychology.

Section: Movements.

How often do people now face challenges: “Drop everything and have fun!”, “Live here and now!” Even the well-known song from the cartoon by Timon and Pumbaa tells us: “Forget your worries and live just like that.” The main point of these calls is to live for pleasure, but will this really bring only benefits? Hedonism is the very meaning of life, which lies in pleasure. To understand this, in this article we will talk about hedonism - its essence, benefits and harm.

Hedonism is a special philosophical movement in which the meaning of life is equated with pleasure.

What is hedonism

The ancient Greek word “hedonistic” translates to “delight.”

The term "hedonism" means "high". A hedonistic lifestyle is the habit of enjoying life, enjoying every moment of it. This shows the similarity of hedonism with egoism. But hedonism and egoism cannot be identified. An egoist is a one-man farmer; he ignores the needs of other people. A hedonist, on the other hand, is focused on social activities and can derive pleasure from doing something good for another. An egoist is incapable of charity, but a hedonist gets real pleasure from it.

Hedonism vs. altruism

An altruist is someone who puts the happiness and well-being of everyone else above their own. Altruism is the highest form of generosity and kindness. A woman who gives her last dollar to a homeless shelter is an example of an extreme altruist. However, you can still call yourself an altruist without hurting yourself; You just have to do things for other people without expecting any reward for yourself.

Altruism is often contrasted with hedonism for obvious reasons. Many people believe that hedonism is the opposite of altruism. However, altruism and hedonism differ only in that my happiness is different from your happiness. Many philosophical and religious traditions argue that this is not true—that the greatest joy in life is bringing joy to others, and that my well-being ultimately depends on your well-being. If this is true, then the ultimate hedonist would also be the ultimate altruist! This idea is central to many religions, especially Buddhism.

The principle of hedonism

The basic principle of hedonism can be considered the idea of ​​being happy. This does not require money or wealth. To do this, you need to learn how to correctly formulate your desires and turn your dreams into goals. A good event may last only a moment, but a person, having noticed this moment, will be happy throughout the whole day or even several days.

Philosophers urge us not to set goals that are too difficult, as they will be difficult (maybe even impossible) to achieve. If an individual learns to split a large goal into several small ones, he has a greater chance of becoming happy.

The main goal of hedonism is the correct setting of priorities. Each hedonist chooses the means to achieve this goal himself. If a person chooses the wrong means to achieve a goal, he will not be able to achieve the desired state of pleasure.

The saying “Everyone forges his own happiness” has a direct connection with hedonism and encourages the individual to find his purpose and enjoy his own actions.

Examples of excessive hedonism

In history you can find a large number of examples of hedonism, including excessive ones. Let's look at the most famous of them.

1. French revolution. The development of navigation and revolutionary sentiments introduced a fashion for hemp preparations not only for medical and scientific purposes. The first to describe the effects of hashish was the doctor Moreau de Tours. He described his feelings and praised the drug; after him, many cultural figures began to try hashish, among whom was the writer Gustave Flaubert and the painter Eugene Delacroix. Most of the Parisian bohemia began to enjoy the drug, and they were no longer worried about those revolutionary sentiments in society.
2. Introduction of Prohibition. With the ban on alcohol as a form of pleasure, underground clubs began to open, where it was offered to those who could pay for it. The exclusivity of such an offer was of interest even to those who did not drink alcohol and had no previous addiction to it. So, during Prohibition, alcohol became a forbidden pleasure that more and more people wanted to taste, including in order to feel their own uniqueness among everyone else.
3. Hippie trend. Hippies were prominent representatives of hedonism. Representatives of the hippie trend took psychedelic substances, maintained sexual relations “of everyone with everyone,” and lived for pleasure and universal happiness.

Hyperhedonism is always associated with human addictions

Hedonic function

In the literary works of the classics you can find the phrase “hedonic function”. With the help of this concept, sources of pleasure are determined. The hedonic function is everything that is pleasant for the analyzers of the human body:

• successful combination of colors in the interior;
• geometry of spatial composition;
• melodic sound of a musical instrument;
• timbre of the interlocutor's voice;
• texture of clothing fabric;
• successfully complement the image with accessories;
• a brilliantly written novel.

Concept of hedonism

According to numerous scientific sources, the concept of hedonism is interpreted as an ethical doctrine that determines the meaning of a person’s life, which boils down to a constant desire to receive satisfaction and various pleasures from almost everything that surrounds him.

This teaching defines unbridled joy, sweet pleasure, pleasure as the main goal, motivation for life and a kind of proof of morality. In other words, according to the philosophy of hedonism, the highest good for a person is to live a carefree, simple life, filled with exclusively positive emotions and devoid of all kinds of suffering and grief.

The essence of hedonism is human behavior that is entirely aimed at obtaining pleasure. This implies both physical and moral pleasure. However, much more often, a hedonist tries to get maximum pleasure from physical activities and material things.

Hedonic values

The ideology of hedonism is based on the following values:

• the ability to love yourself;
• the ability to enjoy life;
• the ability to enjoy performing job duties in production;
• the ability to have fun while teaching the younger generation;
• the ability to be proud of oneself and the team;
• the ability to help another person achieve a cherished goal, make a dream come true.

Synonyms and antonyms

Related terms in meaning are sybarite, epicurean. A slightly distant, but still close concept is an esthete. Let's consider each synonym separately.

A sybarite is a person who lives for luxury and pampering. This concept has come to us from the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, which was distinguished by its special splendor, and its inhabitants by their unbridledness. The ancient sybarites loved to eat exclusively delicacies. Their tables were dominated by seafood (crabs, oysters, shellfish) and other expensive treats. Nowadays, when they say “sybarite,” they mean a person who is spoiled by luxury.

Sybarite

An Epicurean is a person who lives to achieve pleasure through liberation from suffering and resentment. This concept is identical to hedonism, but differs in that it does not set as its own goal the search for sources of happiness. After all, the main source of satisfaction is spiritual peace and ataraxia - serenity. Epicureanism does not do as much harm as hedonism. After all, Epicureans value friendship and moral goods, unlike selfish hedonists.

Epicurean

Epicurus, the philosopher who put forward one of the concepts of hedonism, adhered to his own movement - Epicureanism, where this name came from.

Since hedonism is a form of aesthetic pleasure, it is impossible not to mention aesthetes.

Esthete

An esthete is a connoisseur of beauty, grace, and elegance. In other words, the esthete takes pleasure in whatever he likes to look at. Sometimes forms of aestheticism appear when delicious food or the sight of a beautiful body brings satisfaction. The disadvantages of such people include the fact that aesthetes evaluate everything by appearance.

In addition to synonyms that are close in meaning, antonyms of the concept “hedonist” are also distinguished. These words include “ascetic”.

Ascetic

An ascetic is an individual who abstains from receiving satisfaction and leads a strict lifestyle. Such a person limits himself to all the benefits that make him feel pleasure and joy.

Ascetics tend to overwork at work, load their heads with problems and get little rest. These stressors initially cause depression. And after a deep mental disorder they even go as far as committing suicide.

Hedonism in philosophy

The founder of this worldview is Aristippus. The philosopher divided the entire set of human emotional reactions into 2 poles: pain and pleasure. According to Aristippus, the main task of a person is to make sure that he does not feel pain and experiences maximum pleasure. Wanting to achieve a state of high, a person uses any methods and means.

Initially, supporters of the teachings of Aristippus believed that a state of high could only be achieved through bodily pleasure. However, with the advent of Christianity, people's desire for carnal pleasures began to be condemned. People began to look for other sources of pleasure.

The opposite of the hedonistic cult is asceticism, which was based on a person’s conscious refusal of excesses.

Aristippus' views were shared by Epicurus, who said that every person strives to achieve the state of nirvana. He considered hedonism as one of the criteria for the psychological maturity of an individual.

Comparison parameter	Hedonism	Epicureanism
the main objective	Enjoy	Avoid suffering
Varieties of pleasure	Didn't stand out	Physical comfort and spiritual pleasure
Values	Everything that is important to a person	Spiritual
How to achieve bliss	No specific recommendations	To achieve bliss, you need to minimize stressors

Epicureanism and hedonism can be considered synonyms, but it is impossible to put an equal sign between these concepts.

Perenia Bentham in his writings described a new vision of the hedonistic concept proposed by Aristippus. Bentham said that absolutely every member of society should be happy. The philosopher believed that this could be achieved with the help of utilitarianism. According to utilitarianism, a person, before committing an important act, must think about how his actions will affect society.

Later, P. Bentham's ideas were developed by his followers. So, for example, J. Mill transformed Bentham’s ideas about utilitarianism into the concept of eudaimonism. Mill wrote that the happiness of all members of society is possible if each individual adheres to its moral principles. John Mill's ideas are consistent with Epicureanism.

Sigmund Freud wrote that the hedonistic principle is inherent in a child from birth. He screams when he is hungry, demands to change his wet diapers, and cries angrily if he is left alone in the room.

The original concept of hedonism has today turned into healthy egoism, according to which the meaning of a person’s life comes down to finding happiness, but without harming others.

From the history of the concept

Hedonism and asceticism appeared in Ancient Greece as concepts that were mutually exclusive.

Many thinkers of the time studied and described these theories:

• Proponents of asceticism were Diogenes and Pythagoras, and hedonism was preached by Epicurus and Aristippus. It is the latter who is considered the founder of this system of views. His followers (Cyrenaics - a group of people from the settlement of Cyrene) believed that in order to receive pleasure one must ignore all social frameworks that could restrain them; they preached that the main thing in human life is receiving physical pleasure.
• Socrates and his school discussed this issue with them. This philosopher called for distinguishing between good and bad pleasures and limiting the total desire for their satisfaction.

• Epicurus recognized spiritual pleasure as the highest good, which has a positive effect on a person’s health, causing his detachment (departure) from the negative in life. Thanks to his views, hedonism and eudaimonism were enriched with such a concept as the dependence of receiving pleasure on human virtues, where the interpretation of pleasure is identical to the concept of “gaining happiness.” It was the process of achieving it that the followers of eudaimonism (Aristotle, Gassendi, La Mettrie, Voltaire, Thomas Aquinas, Holbach) considered the main condition for obtaining joy and pleasure; for them, the highest human values ​​were the criterion for moral and aesthetic pleasures. Some theses of eudaimonism formed the basis of modern positive psychology.
• In ancient times, at the instigation of the philosopher Hegesia, radical hedonism arose. The thinker convinced his students and admirers of the need to take one’s own life in case of excessive suffering and pain (physical and mental). Hegesius believed that only a happy existence, full of joy and pleasure, is justified and very important. Therefore, he considered suicide in an unhappy life a necessary and correct action. Because of such views, the thinker received a special nickname in philosophy - “teacher of death.”

In the Middle Ages, teachings with ascetic dogmas dominated and they turned to hedonism again only in the Renaissance.

His theoretical postulates formed the basis of the philosophical treatises of L. Valla and C. Raimondi.

And in the 18-19 centuries in many countries, advanced thinkers (B. Spinoza, J. Locke, de Sade, F. Hutcheson, D. Hume, T. Hobbes, B. Mandeville, C. Helvetius, J. Moore) also used In his works, many theses of the theory of pleasure, forming a new vision of it - enlightened hedonism, which becomes the foundation for the development of social concepts of utilitarianism (building a happy, useful and satisfied society).

The theory of pleasure is receiving a fundamentally new development in psychology. Substantiating his teaching on psychoanalysis, S. Freud interprets the receipt of bodily pleasure as the main driving motive of human life.

Representatives of aesthetic hedonism (Sidgwick and Bentham) believed that people should strive for their own and universal pleasures, and they measured the quality of life of individuals and society as a whole by the degree of satisfaction from physical and mental benefits.

Hedonism in folk culture

Examples of hedonism can be found in popular culture, in the media and advertising, and in literary works:

1. Heroes of many Russian fairy tales dream of wealth and a successful marriage. Of course, most of these characters are portrayed by the authors as negative, but one way or another their images influence the formation of the worldview of the younger generation.
2. In many fairy tales, the main character (the good fellow, the prince) receives the king's beautiful daughter and half of the kingdom as his wife when he copes with difficult trials prepared by the king. However, in such tales, some animal or magical object helps the young man get a bride with a luxurious dowry. He does not make any effort to achieve the desired result.
3. In many TV shows you can see people who have built their own business or become celebrities with the help of money. Watching such programs gives rise to envy in the viewer or a desire to also try to achieve social recognition through dubious means.
4. The conditions of many computer games are aimed at ensuring that a person endlessly upgrades the character’s abilities and obtains game values. By identifying himself with a computer game character, an individual transfers virtual attitudes to real life.

Psychologist's advice: In order for a child's moral and personal development to proceed correctly, parents must carefully monitor what he reads, what films he watches, what sites he visits on the Internet. If parents do not like what a teenager is interested in, they should reasonably express their attitude towards this or that activity. Categorical judgments and total prohibitions should be avoided. It is possible to influence the process of personal development only if there is unconditional trust and mutual understanding between the teenager and parents.

Test for the level of hedonism

The purpose of the test is to determine the degree of hedonism in people over 18 years of age. It is used for independent passage and in the methods of psychologists. Consists of 25 questions, opposite which are put “yes” and “no”:

• I always keep an eye on the release of new films.
• I'd rather starve than eat tasteless food.
• I don't drink the cheapest alcohol.
• I think it’s normal when a person tries to forget about his problems.
• I love having real fun.
• I am familiar with the morning hangover syndrome.
• Interesting acquaintances promise entertainment.
• At least once my partner talked about my sophistication in sex.
• People often tell me about my good taste.
• Sometimes I deprive myself of something so that I can enjoy it twice as much in the future.
• I drink at least a little every week.
• I go shopping for fun.
• Have used drugs at least once in the last 3 months.
• Even though I can’t afford all the best, I try to try it at least once.
• I rarely feel guilty for loving pleasure.
• When I have a headache, the best thing for me is to lie down.
• You need to pamper yourself every day.
• If I like a song, I listen to it 10 times a day.
• In the evenings I have a tradition of self-pleasure.
• I take pleasure from any activity.
• I communicate with nice people as a gift for myself.
• When there are 2 dishes on the table (healthy but simple and unhealthy but expensive), I will choose the second one.
• If beautiful music is playing, if there is a pleasant interlocutor nearby, I allow myself to drink more.
• I smoke.
• I don’t see the joy of preventing someone from enjoying food or alcohol.

At the end of the test, add up the number of positive answers.

Up to 5 points: a hermit person. Able to renounce, endure difficulties, simplifying life as much as possible. The personality loves to think, mental tasks bring pleasure. Doesn't communicate much with strangers. Those around him do not understand the position and consider the person’s character to be difficult. They have few friends.

6-13: More monk than hedonist. If necessary, a person can easily cope with difficulties. Hard worker, loves to achieve goals, critical. The individual rarely overeats and does not abuse alcohol, for fear of relapse. He has few friends and has constant interlocutors.

14-19: more of a hedonist than a hermit. Likes to get drunk, eat, communicate with interesting people. Such individuals need to live fruitfully, solving problems correctly. The threat is to descend into bottomless hedonism.

20-15: inveterate hedonist. A person has many friends, he has advanced his career, improved himself, but he lives a bestial life. He is not able to renounce himself and cope with difficulties. There are many bright events in life, but inside the soul is empty.

Questions are answered quickly, without hesitation.

The paradox of hedonism

On the path to pleasure, an individual faces many difficulties. One of them is the risk of not getting the desired pleasure. This risk is explained by the paradox of hedonism, which is the following: the more a person strives for happiness, the more difficult it is to achieve it.

G. Sidgwick explained this paradox by saying that it is naive to expect instant pleasure. True happiness requires a lot of energy and work. And hedonists are looking for easy ways to get pleasure. Therefore, their positive emotions after achieving a result are short-lived.

You can achieve a lasting happy state only as a result of constant systematic work on yourself and hard work. Only if these conditions are met will a person be able to avoid the paradox of hedonism.

Is hedonism good or bad?

A person’s hedonic mood can manifest itself in completely different forms and differs both in the source of pleasure and in the ways of achieving it. That is why there is no clear answer to the question of the positive or negative nature of the phenomenon of hedonism. That is why it is fashionable to highlight both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

The advantages of hedonism include:

• Achieving happiness by people;
• Adult hedonism is characterized by an awareness of one's own self and the ability to be happy without harming other people;
• Hedonists are creative, interesting and free people;
• Representatives of hedonism are positively minded people who are able to energize those around them;
• The desire to make the world around us better, to help other people for free.

Flaws

The disadvantages of hedonism are:

• Dangerous and destructive ways of obtaining pleasure both for the individual and for society;
• Causing harm to other people in the process of pleasure;
• Infantile hedonism, its consequences can lead to depressive and suicidal tendencies for the hedonist himself;
• Exaggeration of the value of material goods over spiritual ones;
• Neglect of the interests of others.

Who is a hedonist

According to social psychologists, society today can be called hedonistic, since almost every individual strives for pleasure.

A hedonist is a person who lives one day at a time. He does not set global goals for himself. His micro-tasks in life come down to making him feel good here and now. He gets real pleasure from things like:

• entertainment;
• delicious food;
• hobby;
• chat with friends;
• family;
• recognition in society;
• sex;
• trips;
• present.

A striking example of a hedonist is the main character of the cartoon “Futurama” - a robot. The hedonic orientation of the electronic machine is so strong that in its actions it ignores the norms of morality and law. His own desires are important to him, not the foundations of society.

Are hedonists and egoists different people?

Often, hedonists are not liked because they believe that they live only for themselves; in fact, this is not at all the case.
When there are happy people nearby, their number is growing every day, you can spread optimism, but doing this is much more difficult than spreading negativity around. Hedonists try to constantly develop, because by degrading you can only get a short-term high, mainly alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from this. Therefore, it is desirable to have fun without harming others, but first of all, ourselves.

The hedonist approaches the egoist in an effort to comprehend himself spiritually, to find out the purpose of his own “I” and to endow it with absolute happiness in his head. A person who takes grandmothers across the road, helps loved ones financially, and is ready to provide moral support to relatives can also be a hedonist, but only on the condition that his good deeds make him happier every minute.

Signs of a hedonist

A person who is accustomed to observing others can identify a hedonist by such behavioral characteristics as:

• a person loves a beautiful table setting;
• demonstrative model of behavior, the desire to impress, to attract attention;
• before trying food, he will definitely smell it;
• a hedonist has a high level of development of communication skills, knows how to make a good impression on his interlocutor, and win him over;
• he has a developed sense of style;
• egocentrism;
• he knows how to compromise when solving complex issues and tries to avoid conflict situations;
• he carefully shapes his immediate environment;
• The pleasure-seeker's skills of self-control and emotional endurance are weakly expressed;
• he is looking for easy ways to get money and material wealth, so he is often disappointed in the final result;
• a hedonist has a low level of cultural and moral development;
• tendency towards laziness and idleness.

Hedonists like a carefree life full of excitement

How to identify hedonism

You can test a person’s propensity for hedonism using online tests on the Internet. In addition, a number of signs that are inherent in such people are described below:

• weak willpower;
• the pursuit of benefits with the least effort;
• ignorance, inhospitability, selfishness, pride;
• heightened self-esteem;
• laziness;
• weak ability of self-control.

Another manifestation of hedonism

When this movement was just emerging in Ancient Greece, philosophers could hardly imagine the current world with debauchery, sex and drugs, which sometimes take precedence over common sense. In the ancient world, this movement involved thinking about beauty and seeking satisfaction through enjoying the beauty of women and the taste of wine.

Now the direction remains the same, but there are more ways to get pleasure. Many ways to achieve satisfaction are contrary to society. Which, in fact, is the problem of hedonism at the present time.

Types of hedonism

The main types of hedonism are:

1. Ethical hedonism. This type of hedonism is characteristic of those who know how to see beauty in ordinary things. The main life values ​​of such a person are love, family, children, art. They get pleasure from the fact that an unfamiliar passer-by smiled at them. Wanting to cheer themselves up, they watch a good movie or read classic literature.
2. Psychological hedonism. This type of hedonia assumes that an individual receives pleasure not only from the result of a particular activity, but also in the process of activity. In other words, psychological pleasure is the expectation of happiness, the pursuit of it, and the performance of certain actions aimed at making a dream come true. At the same time, a person experiences not only physical pleasure, but also spiritual pleasure. Positive emotions arise in a person with psychological hedonia even if he does something good not for himself, but for another.

Altruism is a type of psychological hedonism.

1. Infantile hedonism. A person with this type of desire for pleasure does not know how to save money or plan his future. He lives today, so he often takes unnecessary risks in an effort to have fun. Infant hedonists often become drug addicts and alcoholics, since their willpower is very weak. In their youth, they do not see anything dangerous in their addictions. However, at the age of 40–45 they realize that they have achieved nothing in life, did not have time to start a family, and have lost true friends. This reality frightens them, but the realization of the catastrophic nature of the situation comes to them when they cannot radically change their lives.

Do you consider yourself a hedonist?

Yes

100%

No

0%

Voted: 6

Basic principles of hedonism

The most important principle of hedonism is to live for your own pleasure and try to reduce to zero all possible suffering. However, it is worth knowing that hedonism has a number of principles on which the hedonistic doctrine is based:

1. Don’t overestimate yourself, external factors, or the importance of the source of pleasure. Inflated expectations and fantasies inevitably lead to disappointment. The best outcome would be to expect something not on a large scale, but within a reasonable framework. Then, upon receiving a truly wonderful event, it brings satisfaction and happiness much more than expected.
2. Don't build your life only on big events. Tasks that are time-consuming and require exhausting and painstaking work may not be worth the effort spent on them. Include small pleasures in your life: be it a cup of coffee, a concert of your favorite band, or a walk in the middle of the work day.
3. Know your limits. If you constantly eat a dish that brings you great pleasure, sooner or later it will stop “acting” on you. Pamper yourself evenly.
4. The level of pleasure depends on external factors, such as the setting, surroundings or timing. Combine one pleasure with a number of related ones, so you can increase your level of satisfaction.

It is important to realize the boundaries of your pleasures and desires

Examples

Vivid examples of hedonism are:

1. A person for whom nothing can spoil his mood. In production, such an employee annoys everyone with his optimism and inexhaustible energy.
2. An individual who is overly focused on material goods. He dreams of buying a car and has been saving money for a long time. However, the long-awaited expensive acquisition does not please him for long: he understands that it is undignified for a person who drives such a cool car to live in a one-room apartment. Such a person does not know how to control his desires and rank them.
3. A person who has learned not to envy others. He does not compare himself with a successful businessman or with a rich neighbor. He doesn't feel angry when he learns that a friend got a promotion or a neighbor bought a second car. The life meaning of such a person is personal growth. He compares himself yesterday with who he has become today. He is happy with what he has today, and does not dream of what he will have tomorrow.

Most modern people are focused on consumption rather than production of material goods

Notes

1. Kuchkovsky P.V.
   Paradoxes of feelings among the Cyrenaics and their connection with the Sophists // Young scientist. - 2016. - No. 2. - pp. 973-980.
2. Losev A. F.
   History of ancient aesthetics. Sophists. Socrates. Platon - M.: ACT Publishing House LLC; Kharkov: Folio, 2000. - P. 128.
3. Bentham, Jeremy.
   An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. - London: T. Payne, 1789.
4. Olds J., Milner P.
   Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of the septal area and other regions of the rat brain // Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology (English) Russian. : journal. - 1954. - Vol. 47. - P. 419-427.
5. Berridge KC, Robinson TE
   What is the role of dopamine in reward: Hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? (English) // Brain Research Reviews (English) Russian. : journal. - 1998. - Vol. 28. - P. 309-369.
6. Smith KS, Berridge KC
   Opioid limbic circuit for reward: interaction between hedonic hotspots of nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum // Journal of Neuroscience (English) Russian. : journal. - 2007. - Vol. 27. - P. 1594-1605.
7. Friston K.
   The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? (English) // Nature Reviews Neuroscience: journal. - 2010. - Vol. 11. - P. 127-138.
8. Shvyrkov, V. B.
   Introduction to objective psychology. Neuronal foundations of the psyche (Russian). - Moscow: Publishing House of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1995.
9. Murik, S. E.
   General neuronal mechanisms of motivation and emotions (Russian). - Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University Publishing House, 2006.
10. Pearce, David.
    (English) (1995-2007). Retrieved July 16, 2013.
11. (English). Retrieved July 16, 2013.
12. Weber M.
    Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism / Weber M. Selected works. - M.: Progress, 1990. - 808 S.
13. Krasnikova V.P.
    Humanistic philosophy of Erich Fromm // Philosophical Research and Modernity. Vol. 4. - M., 2015. - P. 103-110.
14. Al-Hussaini R.H.
    Hedonistic principles of personality // Theory and practice of social development. - 2012. - No. 2. — P. 34-37.
15. Neganov V.V., Shchelokov K.S.
    On the question of the ancient origins of Western individualism // Bulletin of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. —2015. - No. 5. - P. 193-195.
16. Neganov V.V., Strelkova N.V., Shchelokov K.S.
    On the question of the origins and development of modern hedonism // Bulletin of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. - 2016. - No. 2. — P. 35-38.

Ideology of consumption

The cult of pleasure became the basis of an entire ideological system. The ideology of consumption is focused on the use of goods and material values, and not on their production.

The formation of consumption ideology is facilitated by:

• intensive economic development of the country;
• increasing the level of income of the population;
• reducing the length of the working day and working week;
• increasing a person’s free time;
• human desire for individualization;

A person with a consumption ideology tends to:

• shopping (spending money on items you can do without);
• communicate on the Internet (wasting money on paying for communication services);
• when choosing things, focus on fashion trends;
• apply for loans (you want to buy real estate or a car to emphasize your status as a wealthy citizen, but you don’t want to save money);
• pay not only for the quality of the product, but also for the brand;
• choose prestigious specialties in vocational educational institutions that provide only paid training (a person wants to consider himself among the elite).

Hedonism in women

Enjoying your existence is a shortcut to happiness. This principle guides both men and women. They enjoy life for the moment without thinking about tomorrow. And they get rid of tension.

Signs of female hedonism:

• Loves sweets. Not only to eat, but also to smell and examine.
• Optimistic. Avoids negativity and problems. He knows how to cheer up a boring company, despite the condemnation.
• It’s good for a companion with such a woman, but it’s difficult. She is the ideal of passion, loves touch, and is often capricious. The man feels like a courier.
• I'm used to getting what I want. May borrow money for a thoughtless purchase.
• Loves beautiful things - lace, tight dresses, high heels.
• When choosing friends and loved ones, he pays attention to appearance. Wants beautiful people to be around.

To satisfy her desires, a woman uses not external factors, but internal ones. The mood depends entirely on her.

Should we strive for hedonism?

In the media, a hedonist is a happy person. He likes to get a lot from life without expending effort. At the same time, it seems that he gets everything easily. Many people like the image of such a darling of fate; they also want to do nothing, to live according to the principle of consumerism.

Of course, it is nice to satisfy all your needs, but the hedonic philosophy is very dangerous. The Hedonism cult requires a person to transfer all his money to his whims and immediate desires. In simple terms, being a hedonist is not financially profitable.

A pronounced desire to possess things and money turns people into inhuman creatures

Hedonists among us

Taking a close look at your friends, colleagues at work, family and friends, it is easy to identify a hedonist.
These are mostly creative people who lead a different lifestyle from the majority of people, often look or strive to appear younger than their age, can be very active, or have a philosophical outlook on life. They have a distinctive sense of humor, self-irony, are vulnerable, sensitive, and romantic. If you can look into their soul and understand them, then it will be interesting for you to spend time with them, communicate and even do business

Hyperhedonism

Hyperhedonism refers to an extremely strongly expressed human need to buy new things, exotic food, and the desire to receive pleasant bodily sensations. The danger of hyperhedonism is that the individual loses his sense of proportion. Each time he wants to experience more and more vivid positive emotions. Hyperhedonism pushes a person to take unnecessary risks, deviant behavior and criminal acts.

Psychologist's comment: If a person with hyperhedonic aspirations does not receive acute impressions for a long time, his irritability increases and his mood drops. The emotional state of such an individual can be compared to the state of a drug addict who cannot receive the next dose of a psychoactive substance. In this state, a person not only can cause physical harm to himself, but also poses a danger to others.

Rule 1 You need healthy pessimism

The rule of low expectations is the greatest hedonistic imperative. But he is also the most underrated. We get the greatest pleasures when we weren’t expecting anything, or even, on the contrary, when we were expecting something negative. The most basic example is a film or series that was described to you as a sandwich of despondency and mediocrity, but here you are, having turned on the first episode out of curiosity, laughing like crazy. You were preparing to drop the show in 10 minutes, “if it still doesn’t get interesting,” and then you can’t wait for the second season.

Or imagine a week in which you have to navigate between the Scylla of deadlines and the Charybdis of family obligations. There will be no days off. No evening beers or even bike rides. No days off. And then suddenly everything is somehow resolved and you manage to find time to rest. On this day, even a cup of tea and an extra hour of sleep will make you happy.

As you can imagine, this works vice versa. Even more powerful. The beauty you were pining for, but once you started dating, turned out to be a harmful fool - a typical example. Or a dish cooked in flour, which turns out to be nonsense in vegetable oil. Or “the summer that will be the best summer of my life” - how many times have you had that?

It is believed that the number of suicides during vacation is unreasonably high. But you and I know the answer: inflated expectations.

Pros and cons of hedonism

Hedonism as a life principle has both pros and cons:

Advantages

Hedonism creates social stability;

Hedonism reduces social tension;

The ideology of consumption stimulates factories and factories to produce new products;

Hedonism contributes to the economic development of a country;

Striving for pleasure, a person learns to set achievable goals;

The desire for pleasure forces a person to develop his abilities, improve his professional skills, and constantly improve his own qualifications;

A hedonist knows how to enjoy little things;

The ideology of consumption forces a person to buy truly high-quality goods;

Hedonia creates in a person an optimistic view of the world;

Predominance of positive mood.

Flaws

The moral and cultural components of hedonists are poorly developed;

People who seek to enjoy life are selfish;

This life position creates difficulties for career growth;

Hedonists ignore the needs of others;

With the ideology of consumption, the risk of developing mental or chemical dependencies increases;

A hedonist is not able to make decisions independently or take responsibility for a common cause;

The ideology of consumption is focused on individualism;

When producing goods and services in large volumes, natural resources are wasted, which are difficult to replenish, and sometimes even impossible;

The ideology of consumption exacerbates class inequality in society; it is aimed at the elite.

Every person is a hedonist to some extent. A hedonistic woman or a hedonistic man will not always be problematic in interpersonal interactions. Features of the manifestation of hedonia in a person are determined by the level of his personal development and psychological maturity.

Rule 2 Be disciplined

I once stopped drinking alcohol for six months when I realized I no longer enjoyed it. It stopped making you happy and turned into a new tea that you drink solely out of inertia. Having drunk a glass of “Atomic Laundry” six months later, I experienced euphoria, delight (and, it seems, an erection, but I hope it hasn’t come to that yet).

Because pleasure is devalued. The more it is, the more deftly it eludes you, like a huge sparkling carp that you have to catch with your hands. If the flow of happiness and comfort is constant, it depreciates and turns into a routine. Even the most fat-assed and big-breasted habibi, cool wines and the most melodious music can tire your inner padishah.

Hence the paradox: in order to receive happiness, you need to be able to limit yourself in it. Discipline and control are required. It sounds creepy, but no one is asking you to sign up for the Foreign Legion. Just pleasure, this clever asshole, needs to be taken under control. In order to increase it, you need to stop thoughtlessly feeding it.

The best way to enjoy anything is to first do the work, and do it well, and then reward yourself royally. But not excessively. Curb all your appetites and your happiness level will increase.

Gluttony steals the pleasure from food, procrastination to the detriment of work steals all the pleasure from laziness, promiscuity steals the pleasure from sex. If hedonism were a religion, it would have a single evil demon: Beelzebub of Intemperance.

The paradox of discipline is the most serious in all of hedonism. How to be restrained, but not tense? How can you get true pleasure if you constantly pull yourself off the path leading to ossification? Only Democritus knew for sure. But he died, and with a smile on his lips.

How to become a hedonist

Like any other life strategy, hedonism is good in moderation. If a person wants to increase the severity of hedonic manifestations, he needs:

1. Learn to admit your shortcomings and stop reproaching yourself for them.
2. Find positive moments in any life event. Every failure should become an incentive for self-development, and not a reason for despair.
3. Learn to correctly formulate goals and develop plans indicating deadlines for achieving one or another intermediate result.
4. When starting a new business, set yourself up for success.
5. Learn to enjoy the little things, notice the beauty in ordinary things. To do this, it is worth developing your powers of observation, visiting the theater, art galleries more often, and walking in the park.

Each person develops his own life scenario. The optimal degree of expression of a person’s hedonistic aspirations is also determined by each person himself.

​Good or bad

Many consider hedonists to be inveterate egoists, and there is some truth in this, because they only care about their own benefit, taking into account only their interests and needs. But if you look from the other side, each of us has at one time or another shown the same character traits. This is common to all people to one degree or another . Modern man tends to consciously create his own comfort zone and stay in it for as long as possible.

The only thing is that you need to determine for yourself the line between your own satisfaction and concern for other people, their interests, and needs.

Famous quotes about hedonism

Hedonia as a social phenomenon attracts the attention of many people, as a result of which it was possible to collect quotes about this phenomenon:

• “Sometimes a person, in pursuit of pleasure, risks slipping past it” (S. Kirkegaard);
• “Hedonism is a vice that does not allow a person to grow spiritually” (W. Scott);
• “Many people consider luxury to be the opposite of poverty. But that's not true. Luxury is the antipode of vulgarity” (C. Chanel);
• “Only the one who creates material goods and values ​​can be considered free, and not the one who consumes them” (W. James);
• “The ideology of consumption is the craziest ideology” (R. Heinlein).

Controversy over hedonism

The deeper the ideas of pragmatism and utilitarianism penetrated into public consciousness, the more interest in hedonism aroused. His interpretations have been the subject of controversy among scientists. Thus, Henry Sidgwick separated the ethical and psychological sides of hedonism.

He linked ethical hedonism with the normative theory of obtaining both personal and universal pleasure. It is in this aspect that it is related to utilitarianism. And psychological hedonism is associated with processes in the body, which means it is accessible to scientific (and not just philosophical) analysis.

Psychological hedonism has also been studied from a physiological point of view, examining the neural mechanisms of human and animal motives in order to identify a single stimulus for their conscious behavior. Experiments on rats revealed the presence of pleasure centers in the brain, which the animals were ready to stimulate to the point of complete exhaustion. Experiments on humans have revealed the presence of other similar centers.

Despite many studies, there is still no known neurophysiological parameter that would be associated with any manifestation of volitional behavior. Now in science there are many hypotheses about the neural correlate of pleasure.