ABSTRACT
Hedonism is a way of life, characterised by openness to pleasurable
experience. There are many qualms about hedonism. It is rejected on moral
grounds and said to be detrimental to long-term happiness. Several mechanisms for this 'paradox of
hedonism' have been suggested and telling examples of pleasure seekers ending
up in despair have been given. But is that the rule? If so, how much pleasure
is too much? An overview of the
available knowledge is given in this paper.
The relation between
hedonism and happiness has been studied at two levels: that of the nation and
the individual. At the national level average happiness is correlated with
moral acceptance of pleasure and with active leisure. At the individual level
it is similarly linked with hedonistic attitudes and also correlated with
hedonistic behaviours such as frequent sex and use of stimulants. In most cases
the pattern is linearly positive. The relation between happiness and
consumption of stimulants follows an inverted U-curve, spoilsports and guzzlers
are less happy than modest consumers.
Yet these data cannot settle the issue,
since the observed relations may be spurious or due to the effects of happiness
on hedonism rather than the reverse. Even if we can prove a positive effect of
(mild) hedonism on happiness, there is still the question of how that gains
balances against a possible loss of health. A solution is to assess the effect of hedonistic living on the number of
years lived happily.