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- Hedonism
psychological hedonism
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What is psychological hedonism?
Psychological hedonism is a theory in philosophical psychology that suggests all human behavior is driven by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. It is a form of psychological egoism, as it assumes individuals are motivated by their own pleasures and pains.
Psychological hedonists view "pleasure" broadly, encompassing positive feelings such as joy and contentment, and "pain" to include negative experiences like discomfort and regret. While it may seem that not all actions directly produce pleasure or reduce pain, psychological hedonism posits that people act based on what they believe will bring them pleasure or reduce pain.
Critics of psychological hedonism cite counterexamples such as self-sacrificing soldiers or parents. Hedonists often counter these arguments by reinterpreting seemingly altruistic motivations in terms of seeking pleasure or avoiding pain.
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How does psychological hedonism explain human behavior?
Psychological hedonism is the view in philosophical psychology that all human action is ultimately motivated by desires for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Psychological hedonists believe that people try to maximize their net pleasure over pain but acknowledge people can be mistaken about what will bring those results.
Defenders of psychological hedonism often appeal to observations of human behavior, challenging others to find alternative models of action that are equally explanatory and don't collapse into a hedonistic account.
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What is the difference between pleasure and pain in psychological hedonism?
Psychological hedonism posits that all human actions are driven by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
- Pleasure is broadly defined to include all positive feelings, such as joy, satisfaction, and bliss.
- Pain encompasses all negative feelings or experiences, including discomfort, fear, guilt, and regret.
Psychological hedonists suggest that individuals aim to maximize their net pleasure over pain, but they may be mistaken about what will bring those results. This theory is distinct from normative hedonism, which asserts that only pleasure has intrinsic value, and ethical hedonism, which posits that pleasure-producing actions are morally right.
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How does psychological hedonism relate to making choices in life?
Psychological hedonism suggests that all human actions are motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. When making choices, individuals subconsciously evaluate options based on the anticipated pleasure and pain associated with each outcome, aiming to maximize net pleasure.
Critics argue that not all actions directly produce pleasure, citing examples like self-sacrifice. Hedonists respond by suggesting that even altruistic actions are motivated by avoiding negative feelings like remorse. However, it is worth noting that aiming directly for pleasure can sometimes be counterproductive, known as the paradox of hedonism.
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What are some criticisms of psychological hedonism?
Psychological hedonism, the view that all human action is motivated by desires for pleasure and the avoidance of pain, faces several criticisms.
- Altruism: Critics present the sacrifices of soldiers or parents as counterexamples, where actions seem motivated by concern for others rather than personal pleasure.
- Redescriptions: While hedonists attempt to reinterpret altruistic motivations in terms of avoiding remorse, the possibility of such redescriptions doesn't validate them.
- Specific desires: Joseph Butler argued that pleasure is a bonus when desires achieve their object, not the primary aim. The best way to get pleasure is to pursue other objects wholeheartedly.
- Double standard: Hedonists simplify ethical problems using pleasure as a single standard but treat pleasure and pain as different in kind, not as degrees on a single scale.
- Maladaptive behavior: Both undercontrol and overcontrol are maladaptive. Undercontrolled individuals are unable to work toward long-term goals, and overcontrolled individuals miss opportunities to experience pleasure and express feelings.
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How is psychological hedonism different from ethical hedonism?
Psychological hedonism is a theory in philosophical psychology that suggests all human actions are motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. It posits that individuals always aim to maximize their net pleasure over pain, even when benefiting others.
Ethical hedonism, a normative ethical view, claims that pleasure-producing actions are morally right. It considers pleasure as the ultimate criterion for what is good or bad, right or wrong.
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psychological hedonism, in philosophical psychology, the view that all human action is ultimately motivated by desires for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. It has been espoused by a variety of distinguished thinkers, including Epicurus, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill, and important discussions of it can also be found in works by Plato, Aristotle, Joseph Butler, G.E. Moore, and Henry Sidgwick.
Because its defenders generally assume that agents are motivated only by the prospect of their own pleasures and pains, psychological hedonism is a form of psychological egoism. Psychological egoism is a broader notion, however, since one can hold that human actions are exclusively self-interested without insisting that self-interest always reduces to matters of pleasure and pain. As an empirical thesis about human motivation, psychological hedonism is logically distinct from claims about the value of desires. It is thus distinct from axiological or normative hedonism, the view that only pleasure has intrinsic value, and from ethical hedonism, the view that pleasure-producing actions are morally right.
Psychological hedonists tend to construe “pleasure” very broadly, so as to include all positive feelings or experiences, such as joy, satisfaction, ecstasy, contentment, bliss, and so forth. Likewise, “pain” is typically understood so as to include all negative feelings or experiences, such as aches, discomfort, fear, guilt, anxiousness, regret, and so forth. Even construing pleasure and pain widely, however, it is implausible to think that all acts successfully produce pleasure or reduce pain. People are often mistaken about what will achieve those results, and, in some cases, aiming at pleasure is actually counterproductive (the so-called paradox of hedonism). Consequently, psychological hedonism is usually put forward as a claim about what agents believe or take to be pleasure-producing and pain-reducing.
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Hedonists tend to assume that agents attempt to maximize their net pleasure over pain. They need not deny that agents frequently benefit others, however, since the thesis can be preserved by holding that other-benefiting actions are nonetheless hedonistically motivated. Hedonism itself is neutral as to which kinds of actions are means to pleasure and about which kinds of experiences are pleasurable.
Psychological hedonism is usually defended by appealing to observations of human behaviour, together with an implicit challenge to find alternative models of action that are equally explanatory and yet do not collapse into the hedonistic account. It would be refuted, however, by a clear case of non-hedonistic motivation. Standard counterexamples include the soldier on the battlefield who gives up his life to save comrades and the sacrifices of parents for their children. Hedonists usually respond to such examples by redescribing apparently altruistic motivations in hedonistically egoistic terms. The soldier, for example, may be said to have acted so as to avoid a lifetime of remorse. The fact that such redescriptions are possible, however, does not in itself make them plausible. Hedonists may also insist that attempting to obtain pleasure or avoid pain is simply part of what it is for something to be a motive. That move, however, transforms what purports to be a factual claim about human motivation into a trivial definitional truth.