Analysis of Hedonism

Although hedonism can be considered as simply an aspect of ethical egoism, there are a number of variations within hedonism itself and it can fruitfully be explored as a separate philosophical category. According to Gosling (1969), variations among philosophers regarding hedonism tend to emerge from two main sources. First, philosophers often differ in regard to what they are attempting to accomplish. Second, philosophers can differ in regard to their view of the nature of pleasure. For example, he noted, philosophers from the British Empiricist tradition tend to think of pleasure as a sensation which feels the same in all instances, but results from widely differing experiences and situations. On the other hand, he indicated that philosophers working within the Greek tradition would tend to think of pleasures as very different.

Although these are refinements on the original conception, the argument for hedonism is the same whatever the variety. The hedonistic position is essentially one concerned with the choice of the indi

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ng the individual's desires leads to a situation in which society thrives and prospers. Although traditional liberalism views society from the standpoint of the individual in the first instance, and society as simply the arrangements made between free and rational individuals, there is also some focus on the needs of the whole. Liberalism has been critiqued, certainly as early as de Tocqueville, for its over-emphasis on the individual, but that emphasis has never been absolutely total. It has always been based in a set of principles that involve natural or civil rights which people hold in the context of well-functioning of the world or of the society. On the other hand, hedonism seems to leave out this particular consideration in favor of decisions based totally in self-discerned self-interest, without the amelioration of a system of rights. In some respects, the establishment of a system, or bill, of rights, represents a limitation. Hedonism would require all rights, rather than a circumscribed set of them in order to fulfill its ethical priorities. It would represent an unlimited view of the individual's possibilities and avenues of actions. The problem is that these obviously conflict in many instances. The classic exam
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