my introduction to hedonism happened in high school, in an elective social studies class (the history of political thought). among other things, we read excerpts of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and Utilitarianism, which i've since read in their entirety multiple times. i'm a huge JSM fan for multiple reasons, but initially it was for love of his distinguishing between negative and positive liberty and his belief that actions are judged moral in proportion to how much happiness they produce in society as a whole. these were all radical ideas for a 16 year-old who'd been raised Baptist by a former Roman Catholic, but they made more instinctive sense to me than anything i'd heard in a sermon or read in the Bible. the fact that JSM was writing as a Christian made his ideas even more compelling, for all they contradicted most of what i'd been taught about the nature of God and the world in Bible school.
i should clarify that i'm an altruistic hedonist; i have a hedonistic appreciation for sensual pleasures, but i see pursuit of spiritual and intellectual pleasures as essential to a good life and to full enjoyment of the sensual as well. for all my introversion, my moral compass is collectivist, not individualist, so i see my purpose as increasing the amount of goodness in my community, not just in my life.
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branchandroot
hedonism.
Date: 2006-08-09 02:30 pm (UTC)i should clarify that i'm an altruistic hedonist; i have a hedonistic appreciation for sensual pleasures, but i see pursuit of spiritual and intellectual pleasures as essential to a good life and to full enjoyment of the sensual as well. for all my introversion, my moral compass is collectivist, not individualist, so i see my purpose as increasing the amount of goodness in my community, not just in my life.