Doing the Right Thing, Or Doing What Brings You Pleasure?

Doing The Right Thing, or Doing What Brings You Pleasure?

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• From the Greek “hedone” meaning pleasure and “ism” which means a system of belief • Therefore, “hedonism” is the belief that pleasure is the highest good of life • Titus 3:3; James 4:3; 1 Corinthians 15:12-34; Isaiah 22:10-14; Haggai 1:4; 2 Timothy 4:10

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• Aristippus was the ﬁrst proponent of hedonism as a philosophy. • Though a student of Socrates, his theories and extravagant lifestyle differed from his master. • Aristippus believed physical goods were superior to spiritual goods, and so present pleasure is the main motive in life, and material goods are necessary to achieve such pleasure.

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• An easy carefree life and momentary physical pleasure have the greatest value (hence, e.g., lack of concern for the future). • Pleasure is the end of all action, just as in the animal world. • It is therefore wrong to renounce present pleasure for the sake of future happiness.

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• Epicurus believed gods do not exist so you should avoid pain. • However, the Epicureans unlike the Cyrenaics, believed that people should seek pleasures of the mind rather than pleasures of the body. • The wise person, they thought, avoids pleasures which may later cause pain.

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• In modern philosophy, hedonism has taken a different form. The hedonistic utilitarians believe that people should seek not their own individual pleasure alone, but the greatest good for the greatest number of people. • They think of good in terms of pleasure...tolerance, live and let live (socialism, libertarians)

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• Later a disciple of Aristippus named Jeremy Bentham popularized hedonism with his own adaptation. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as to determine what we shall do.”

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• He believed “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong". • His ideas inﬂuenced the development of welfarism. • He advocated the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the decriminalising of homosexual acts. Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• He called for the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the death penalty, and the abolition of physical punishment, including that of children. • He has also become known in recent years as an early advocate of animal rights.

Sunday, October 18, 15 What Is Hedonism?

• John Stuart Mill believed that man's pleasure should be centered around his intellect instead of the body. • Mill was a strong advocate of individual liberty. • He felt a individual's drive to better their station, and for self-improvement, was the sole source of true freedom.

Sunday, October 18, 15 Problems With Hedonism • It Rejects The Objectivity Of Faith (Jeremiah 10:23; Psalm 119:104-105; Hebrews 5:12-14) • The Pursuit Of Pleasure Has Many Negative Consequences (2 Timothy 3:1-4; Ecclesiastes 2; 12:13-14) • It Rejects The Beneﬁts Of Adversity, Suffering, And Persecution (1 Peter 4:1-5, 12-13; Hebrews 5:7-9; 11:25) • It Rejects The Reality Of The Soul (Luke 8:14)

Sunday, October 18, 15 Who Is Your God?

Sunday, October 18, 15