HEDONISM

Macy Ketron
T.V. Clip: “How to Get People to
Work Harder” – The Office
◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQYzT49hyKo
Video Summary
◦ Andy Bernard is the brand manager at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

◦ He's in charge of increasing the sales for the quarter.

◦ To do this, he creates a point-based reward program for incentive for sales.

◦ Andy promises to tattoo his butt if the team gets 5k points.

◦ The team quickly jumped into work to gain as many points as possible.

◦ By the end of the day, they gained enough points and were able to start deciding on tattoo ideas
Hedonistic Egoism
- Hedonistic egoism is a combination of the two ideologies, hedonism, and egoism

- Hedonism is the ethical theory saying the key to happiness is seeking pleasure and avoiding pain

- Egoism is the ethical theory saying that people should do what is best for them and be only self-interested.

- Hedonistic Egoism is the belief that we should do whatever makes us happiest for the sake of ourselves, with

and whatever brings us pleasure is morally good, regardless of the consequences to others.
Jim Halpert and the staff
◦ Jim was edging Andy on to push him to promising something big.

◦ Jim is representing hedonistic egoism as his choices are self interested and no consideration

for the affects on Andy.

◦ The rest of the staff follows along and follows the theory as well by pushing to get as many

points as they can to see Andy get the tattoo.

◦ They are choosing short term pain (pushing themselves) for long term pleasure (permanent

tattoo)
Andy Regretting his choice
◦ At the beginning, Andy chooses to make the promise as incentive to get sales.

◦ He chooses short term pleasure and long-term pain with his promise.

◦ His actions could be classified as altruism.

◦ His short-term pleasure is met with the sales being met for the quarter, and the joy is

short lived.
Works Cited
◦ Ustheoffice, director. How to Get People to Work Harder. YouTube, YouTube, 18 Feb. 2016,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQYzT49hyKo.

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