The Origins of Hedonism. Manifestation of Hedonism in the Modern World.
Hedonism is a philosophy that asserts the pursuit of pleasure as the primary goal of human life. Accordingly, human activities are aimed at achieving pleasure. “Hedone” in ancient Greek translates to pleasure or enjoyment. The founder of hedonism was the ancient philosopher Aristippus.
Image 1 – Aristippus of Cyrene
For centuries, the source of hedonism was the aristocracy or elite, as they did not need to work to live—they had everything from birth. Ordinary people had no time to think about pleasure, let alone try everything. The “cream of society” spent most of their time seeking entertainment, primarily focusing on two carnal pleasures — sex and food consumption. Historians also report that in the Roman Empire, it was customary to induce vomiting at the table (by sticking fingers down the throat) to make room for more food.
An example of people living in complete abundance who pushed the boundaries and explored new horizons can be found in the main characters of the movie “Eyes Wide Shut,” Bill and Alice Harford. Alice says, “Happiness is not always equal to pleasure.” She means that she understands the difference between deep happiness in relationships and superficial pleasure. The movie depicts how behind the external prosperity and refined gloss lies dubious morality. The elite, indulging in abundance and permissiveness, drown in vices, but the author seems to hint that there is something more behind this.
Image 2 – Bill and Alice from the movie "Eyes Wide Shut"
History is full of famous personalities who went to extremes in hedonism. For example, Louis XIV visited his women three times a day, Maria Antoinette, the ancient Roman emperor Caligula, about whom my colleague wrote an interesting article detailing the essence of his orgies. To read it, click the link below. Even Napoleon Bonaparte had women as often as he wanted. Many other personalities who organized orgies, as well as secret closed clubs where everything took place, are discussed in our new film.
What has changed today? Today, some pleasures have become accessible to ordinary people, but most are still out of reach. People live in a consumer society where the measure of happiness is the fleeting joy of possession. Think of the joy of buying something new, but over time you get used to it, and the joy fades. Sounds familiar? So, hedonism in the mass consciousness is the pursuit of comfort and acquiring only the best (goods and services) because only the highest quality and newest can provide strong and pleasant sensations.
Modern people already have a certain breadth of types of pleasures. From the nearest supermarket, which allows you to arrange a feast of unprecedented variety by the standards of Roman emperors, to the ubiquitous entertainment sector. But the depth of pleasures for modern people is limited, so in purely quantitative terms, they are still far from the entertainment of the aristocracy and monarchy of past centuries.
For the elite, very little has changed over the centuries. Such people still indulge in extremes of hedonism because they can afford it. This is detailed in our film. However, there is another side to this lifestyle, which consists of several nuances:
1) After each experienced pleasure, a person step by step approaches the limit of this pleasure. This means that what used to bring pleasure no longer does or even brings unpleasant sensations. And here, a person has two options: take a break or change the form of pleasures.
For example, if a child loves sweets and can eat as much as he wants, at a certain point, he will eat so much that he won’t be able to eat them anymore and will feel nauseous just at the sight of them. Not clear what changing the form of pleasures means? I’ll explain in the next point.
2) Upon reaching the pleasure limit, a person increasingly pushes the boundaries of what is permissible, changing the form of pleasures and “raising the stakes.”
For example, a billionaire over 50 who has tried the most diverse women in all possible positions throughout his life. Ordinary sex does not bring him pleasure, and he starts experimenting. It starts with small changes but eventually leads to extremes and experiments: homosexuality, zoophilia, pedophilia, and infanticide, as well as other forms of sexual deviations.
3) A person cannot endlessly push the boundaries of what is permissible, so sooner or later, tolerance sets in. If we consider the example from the previous point, by tolerance, I mean that such a person will not get pleasure from sex in principle, in any form. In this case, the person has only one option—to go through a kind of “withdrawal,” giving the body time to completely get used to it.
In conclusion, I want to say that hedonism as a philosophical movement has many useful principles that can be used in life. The pursuit of pleasure is a normal human condition. Hedonism helps us not to seek non-existent meanings but to be here and now, enjoying every moment. The concept of hedonism is good as long as we do not succumb to momentary temptations, do not step over others’ heads for our pleasure, and do not forget other values in life.
So, what have we learned?
Is it true that hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure? Yes.
Is it true that hedonism was mainly indulged in by the elite and wealthy because ordinary people had no time for various pleasures? Yes.
Is it true that if you abuse any kind of pleasure, it ceases to bring it? Yes, everything is good in moderation.
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Author: Nasibullin A.L
Reading time: 3 minutes
