Full transcript
0:00The A to Z of -isms. Hedonism.
0:04Hedonism is the philosophy of living your
0:05life to experience pleasure and avoid pain, so if you're watching this while
0:10lying on a chaise longue and eating sweets
0:12you're probably a hedonist. Oh, unless you hate sugar in which case you're probably
0:15a masochist, and that is another film. The word hedonism comes from the
0:20ancient Greek hedone, meaning pleasure and some of the earliest
0:23recorded hedonists were Greek: Democritus, Aristippus, and most
0:27famously, the 4th century BCE philosopher Epicurus.
0:31Although Epicurus was less of a
0:33thrill-seeker than his hedonism implies. For Epicurus the best human
0:37condition was a state which he called ataraxia, meaning tranquility.
0:42Epicurus believed that small pleasures were more likely to bring us tranquility
0:46than earth-shattering pleasures and it's easy to see his point. If you find
0:50pleasure in a glass of wine with friends at the end of a day that will be
0:53relatively easy to achieve. Crucially for the epicurean thinker that means it will
0:58also be easy to avoid the pain of not being able to have something you desire,
1:02a pain which would upset your state of ataraxia. But if you are only satisfied
1:07with vintage champagne that might not be so easily found. You might not be able to
1:11afford it, or the bar where your friends are meeting might not serve it, or the
1:15vintage might have run out because you have drunk it all on previous hedonistic
1:18nights out. Your likelihood of experiencing pain goes up as you become
1:23more exacting in your standards of what you need to bring deep pleasure.
1:26So, although hedonism assumes that we seek out pleasure and avoid pain at all
1:30times, it might be worth remembering that more
1:32modest pleasures can be easier to find and that might bring you less pain in
1:36the long term, the true hedonist score. And while we might not always think of
1:41ourselves as pleasure seekers every time we sit on a comfy chair rather than bed
1:45of nails we are making a hedonistic choice. Now if you'll excuse me, I must
1:49get back to my sweets.