The hedonism theory of happiness identifies pleasure and pain as
the only important elements that motivates us to behave in the way that we do.
The hedonistic theory is considered as a theory of value in which it states
that only pleasure is intrinsically valuable and all and only pain is
intrinsically not valuable. (Seligman, & Royzman, 2003)
Fundamental view of how the theory creates
and explains happiness
In all its variants,
hedonism holds that happiness is a matter of raw subjective feeling. A person
who therefore experiences happy life maximizes feelings of pleasure and
minimizes pain. A common example is when a happy person smiles a lot her
pleasures are intense and her pains are few and far between. However, criticism
of this theory is on who is the experience or the retrospective judge of
pleasure. A common disagreement is about
what aspects of pleasure make it valuable and whether we have to be conscious
of pleasure for it to be valuable. Unfortunately the discussions rarely endorse
it, and some even deplore its focus on pleasure. (Seligman, & Royzman, 2003)
How
to apply this theory
It defines pleasure and pain broadly, such that both physical and
mental phenomena are included. The standard
position should be that pleasure is a conscious mental state, hence any
happiness that person is not conscious of does not intrinsically improve their
well-being, For example, in applying this theory, a gentle massage or even
recalling a fond memory should be considered to cause pleasure. This reveals
that pleasure is valuable for as it is intuitively appealing.
References
Seligman,
M. E., & Royzman, E. (2003). Happiness: The three traditional theories.
Authentic Happiness Newsletter, (July).
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in nursing paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for Medicine Essay Writing.
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