How I Rejected Hedonism
Hedonism is the belief that value resides in the feelings of pain and pleasure. Hedonism is a theory of value in which pain is intrinsically bad, pleasure is intrinsically good, and nothing else is intrinsically bad or good. To put it another way, pain is intrinsic negative value, pleasure is intrinsic positive value, and nothing else is intrinsically valuable. Other things can have instrumental value as causes of pain or pleasure, but not intrinsic value. To a hedonist, the purpose of life is to experience as little pain and as much pleasure as possible. To be clear, I am talking about what is good or bad for an individual, not what is objectively/morally good or bad. The hedonist believes that his own pleasure has positive value to him, his own pain has negative value to him, and nothing else has intrinsic value to him. In this context, “pain” is a general term for negative emotional experience, and “pleasure” is a general term for positive emotional experience. In other word