Episodes in Ethics

I am @akpomedaye an ardent lover of philosophy and here is my third article on episodes in ethics.

From the previous article Aristotle was of the view that the good life for man is the Happy life; a life of moderate behavior. If we are to have a good life then it must be the life of happiness and the life of happiness can be achieved by opting for a mean between two extremes.
Another of the classical ethical theories is HEDONISM.

EPICURUS went out blatantly refute both Aristotle and Plato's view on what the good life is for all men and how ought men to live. He advocated the philosophy of Hedonism which held that PLEASURE IS THE SOLE GOOD.
He did not only proposed this theory but to a great extent , lived it. Don't get things all muddled up when u consider the word epicure in the dictionary. The Epicurean is someone who enjoys fine wine and exotic foods but this is far different from the life Epicurus himself led. He was more of an ascetic and was alleged to have drank only water due to his stomach troubles.
The philosophy of Epicurus consists mainly of advice for a moderate living and pleasure being the key element. He proposed that pleasure is the sole good. He was not unaware of the fact that some persons pursue pleasure too zealously and suffer pain eventually. So for him , he proposed that the proper way to proceed is to LIVE PLEASANTLY WITHOUT SUFFERING FROM ANY UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS OF SUCH LIVING.
Epicurus' philosophy not only gives instructions to living pleasurably but also to avoid pain in the process. If you engage in a life of pleasure that eventual brings pain, that life is considered A BAD LIFE. When he considered that there were pleasures that brought pain and some and didn't he termed the former : dynamic and the latter passive.

Dynamic Pleasure

This includes:

• gluttony: you eat too much at an all you can eat buffet thinking its "the life” and end up with a severe case of indigestion and constipation.
• Drinking: quoting from the bible drink but don't be drunk . there are persons I know who never passes up an opportunity to get wasted. They see any gathering where there is dry gin or any form of alcohol and they are down for it. They think its the good life at the moment. Only to end up with either a serious case of hangover or beat up their spouse or much sadly death by accident.
• Fame: take the celebrity world for instance. The kardashians do not go shopping pt even take a piss without the world knowing. There is no privacy , your life ain't yours.
  Epicurus was of the belief that it was better to avoid pain than to seek pleasure which would eventually lead to pain.

This philosophical doctrine was further divided into two parts: PSYCHOLOGICAL and ETHICAL.

Psychological hedonism held the view that men in all that they do in life is to seek pleasure. Every single step is taken to acquire pleasure.
Ethical hedonism is of the view that men should not only seek pleasure but they ought to do so because pleasure is the sole good.
Some pleasures are bad and so even if as men we are motivated to seek pleasure , pleasures that are bad ought to be avoided.

A perfect example is a miser. They are so motivated to acquire wealth that they forget the use for which it was acquired. They hold on to their money and deny themselves pleasure. This was the view or psychologists. The psychological hedonists argue that the miser in actual fact derives pleasure from hoarding his money. Just because he is not acquiring pleasure the "conventional" way does not mean he does not acquire pleasure.
This point by the hedonists clearly made it difficult for any scientific methods to refute PR prove the theory. This clearly made it difficult for the psychological hedonism to be considered as a scientific theory.
Ethical hedonism answers the two questions posed by ethics by stating that the good life for men is the life of pleasure and that men ought to act to acquire it. But upon careful scrutiny we find that it is not always so. smoking opium may give pleasures momentarily but it is accompanied by mental and physical deterioration how then can one say the good life is the life of pleasure. The passive pleasure (friendship) argued by Epicurus was debunked too. A man may lose his friend to death and have pain and grief inflicted upon him.
The ethical hedonists hold that there are no " bad pleasures" only bad consequences. Howvere it would be very difficult to separate painful consequences from pleasurable ones. So if the ethical hedonists stick to their theory of pleasure being the sole good and all men must seek, then they are inadvertently telling us to seek pain too.

The theory is highly impractical.

• A soldier is standing guard at his duty post on very hot day, pacing up and down, and now feeling parched. His duty is to stand guard but he desires to seek pleasure by helping himself to a chilled bottle of beer at the nearest bar. Towing the line of the ethical hedonists, he leaves his post, goes out for a drink and the place he was meant to guard was vandalised.
  It would be no less than a case of mockery if argues that he sought pleasure that was why he left his post. With this It is apt to say that MEN OUGHT TO ACT TO ACQUIRE PLEASURE BUT NOT ALWAYS.

Conclusion

Hedonism is theoretically attractive and highly impractical. It is obvious from the happenings in the world that pleasures are both bad and good and we have seen people fall into great pain in the pursuit of pleasure. There is no way that pleasure is the sole good. The plain man is more of an Aristotelean than an Epicurean: he tries to find a moderate life , a life that is; pleasurable and rid of pain. No doubt that pleasure is a vital element of life , the good life but if we must seek pleasure, we must do it moderately. This is my opinion, you may have yours.

Having considered this theory, I ask you:

WHAT YOU CONSIDER AS PLEASURABLE IS IT ACCOMPANIED BY PAIN?

DO YOU FEEL THAT THE PLEASURE OUTWEIGH THE PAINS AND THAT IS WHY YOU STILL STICK WITH IT??

Next episode will be coming up soon.

Thanks for reading.