Macy Ketron

Professor Burleson

PHIL 2306

August 2, 2021

Hedonistic YOUtilitarianism

Every decision that someone makes is made based on a set of rules in their head,

telling them what is right, wrong, good, and bad. These rules are based on their ethics, and

many people follow many different ethical theories. The one that I follow the closest in my

life is hedonism. Hedonism is the overall idea is that happiness comes from doing things that

are pleasurable, and that people live a good life if they live one with lots of pleasures. Within

hedonism, there are many sub theories one can follow that more specifically represents their

ethics. The sub theory I follow closest is hedonistic utilitarianism, which is a version in which

decisions are based not only on the pleasure one experiences personally, but also how the

decision affects the pleasure of those involved. Every choice I make is based on what will

cause myself, and others, the most pleasure.

There are three different theories within hedonism that I touch on in this paper. They

are psychological hedonism, hedonistic egoism, and hedonistic utilitarianism. For the most

part, they all agree on the same simple idea that pleasure is key to happiness, and happiness is

key to a good life. As Joe Nelson of the University of Duke states, “Different versions of the

view are distinguished by what they take pleasure and pain to be, and which pleasures and

pains are said to count.” (Nelson, 2020, p. 8).

The first of the three most common sub theories in hedonism is psychological

hedonism. The main difference in this theory is that the decisions to encounter pleasure are
subconscious, whereas is all other sub theories it is conscious. This theory goes as far to say

that ALL behavior is unconsciously based on the desire to encounter pleasure and avoid pain.

It states people’s motivation for every choice is based on what will be best for them. An

example of this would be when someone is motivated to get into the hot shower because the

bathroom air is cold, and when they step in, they are warmed up by the water. Now this

person’s subconscious associates getting in the shower with the pleasure received by the

warm water, and it encourages the behavior to be repeated.

The next theory is normative hedonism. It is the idea that pleasure should be pursued,

and pain avoided. Happiness is the sole criteria for a decision being morally right or wrong.

There are two sub theories that take that last line two very different directions. There’s

hedonistic egoism, and hedonistic utilitarianism. Hedonistic egoism is the idea that one

should do whatever is best for them and their personal interests. However, there is no regard

for the consequences that the choice may have on others. For example, if someone sees a

drink they like in the fridge, but knows it belongs to someone else, they will still take it and

drink it. They did what was best and allowed to most pleasure for themselves, while

disregarding the feelings of the owner of the drink.

Hedonistic utilitarianism is the opposite of egoism, where the right decision is the one

that causes the most happiness for everyone involved. This is the one I most closely relate to

as I see it as a balance of making myself and others around me happy. This is also one of the

sub theories of hedonism that recognizes that short term pain in return for long term pleasure

allows more happiness than vice versa. Maxime Taquet touches on this in her studies of how

hedonism effects the choices of everyday, unpleasurable activities. She says “Hedonic
considerations shape human behavior. They may explain how humans overcome the allure of

short-term gains in happiness to maximize long-term welfare.” (Taquet, 2016)

After adequately understanding the three main types of hedonism, I am going to talk

about the one most used in my life, hedonistic utilitarianism. The ethical theory can be seen

in my school, work, everyday responsibilities, and future career.

Schoolwork is something that I, along with many others, don’t find inherently

pleasurable. However, the moral push I have is that I do it to be able to relax in the afternoons

and enjoy not having stress over homework. This is an example of short-term pain for long

term pleasure. On a larger timeline, the pleasure I will feel post college is ultimately my

reason for taking classes. These are a result of general hedonism. Where my experience is

more personalized to hedonistic utilitarianism is the fact that it brings me pleasure to

accomplish my goals as well as my family, friends and those around me. My actions to

complete school not only bring me pleasure, but also those around me.

Jobs are an example where I feel I most accurately fit the moral theory. Everything I

do relating to my work is based on what will be best for me and those around me. I used to

work at a daycare. When I worked there, I made sure to become good friends to all of my

coworkers and my boss. I did this so that I wouldn’t have work stress and could be my

happiest and most comfortable at work. This also made work better for my coworkers

because they were able to feel the same as me. When I am at work, I enjoy putting my full

effort into it. I engage with the kids through toys, dancing, coloring, and other activities. This

allowed me to enjoy what I was doing every day at work and brought me more pleasure than

sitting and watching them all day, and it brought the kids more pleasure than sitting and being
watched all day. Both of these were choices that I made that not only made work much more

pleasurable for me, but also for those around me.

When it was time to move on from that job, my morals still showed in the way it was

handled. It ended in a conflict in which I felt the business I was working for didn’t reflect the

values I had. When I decided to leave, I put in my two weeks’ notice and worked it, despite

my brain telling me to walk out and never come back. Walking out would have been short

term pleasure, but long-term pain to not only myself but to those around me like my boss,

who would be short staffed. I worked the two weeks to allow my replacement to be hired

because out of all the scenarios of me leaving, that caused the least amount of pain to myself

and those around me.

My everyday life is full of things that definitely don’t bring me pleasure. I have

worked hard to come up with a “system” that allows me to get the most pleasure out of my

days, even when they are filled with things that aren’t fun to do. I always plan a “pleasure” to

follow up any “pain” I need to deal with, for example, the other day I went to the tax office to

get my new cars title transferred and registration updated. Pulling together the paperwork was

stressful, and I had to wait over an hour in line to deal with a rude lady at the booth. I wasn’t

how I wanted to spend the morning and I hadn’t had any pleasures. I had to remind myself

that I just got a major errand knocked out and it was a good thing because I was being

productive. So, after I left, I went and got new plate covers from AutoZone as a celebration.

The tax office was an example of a short-term pain people deal with for long term pleasure. I

try to make every undesirable errand a positive one so that I am constantly experiencing

pleasures. Another example of this is that when I have to do my laundry, I always reward
myself by taking a shower and changing into my warm, freshly dried clothes. This has made

what was previously a negative experience something I look forward to.

My future career is a huge reflection of hedonistic utilitarianism. I am studying to be a

forensics science technician. It shows this theory because I get pleasure from it knowing I am

doing good for the community, while also doing good for the people around me. It is an

instance where I will cause some people pain, while causing many more people pleasure.

When I put a murderer in jail, I am causing pain to the killer, his lawyer, and his family, but I

am causing pleasure to the victim’s family, the community, and the employees working on

the case (detectives, police, judge). There is pain as a result of my decision, but the pleasure

heavily outweighs the pain. That career is based on what will cause me the most pleasure,

and my pleasures are determined by enjoying work, being good at it, financial stability, being

helpful to the community as a whole. There will be “pains”, losing a case, late night writing

reports I don’t want to write, etc., but those are just other examples of short-term pain, long

term pleasure.

In this paper, psychological hedonism, hedonistic egoism, and hedonistic

utilitarianism were all explored. The focus was on hedonistic utilitarianism, as it most

directly relates to the way I chose to live my life, and how it plays into my decisions with

school, work, my responsibilities, and my future career.

 Works Cited

Moore, Andrew. “Hedonism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 17

Oct. 2013, plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/.

Nelson, Joe. 2020, pp. 8–9, A Defense of Basic Prudential Hedonism.

Taquet, Maxime, et al. “Hedonism and the Choice of Everyday Activities.” PNAS, National
Academy of Sciences, 30 Aug. 2016, www.pnas.org/content/113/35/9769.

Weijers, Dan. “Hedonism.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, iep.utm.edu/hedonism/.

“Where Does Hedonism Fit in the Meaning of Life?” The Wise Sloth, 5 Oct. 2017,
thewisesloth.com/2017/10/05/the-pros-and-cons-of-hedonism/.