Illustration: Lia Popaz
Pleasure as the driving force of life
By: Alex Sandoni
2x/4/2026
What is the best way to live a happy life? Many answers to this question would include some iteration of the phrase “doing what one enjoys the most,” and those people would be unaware that what they are practising is already hedonism.
A brief history of Hedonism: it was born with the Greek philosopher and student of Socrates, Aristippus of Cyrene, who believed the end goal of people’s actions to be the pursuit of pleasure, while avoiding pain at all costs. This early idea of hedonism wasn’t popular and was quickly forgotten until Epicurus redefined it. Unlike Aristippus of Cyrene, who connected pleasure to a state of ecstasy and excitement, Epicurus focused on pleasure as a state of tranquillity, in which there would be no fear of death.
The theory of hedonism has evolved into many different ideas about what this philosophy is really about. The one most faithful to the original Greek definition is now folk hedonism, the belief that hedonism only focuses on pleasures like sex, drugs, and alcohol, disregarding their effects on the future self.
Value hedonism is the idea that pleasure holds intrinsic value, that it is valuable for its own sake. While objects, for example, hold instrumental value and are only valuable because they can be used to acquire other valuable things, intrinsic value is only value in itself. Such pleasures can be happiness, knowledge, and virtue, abstract concepts that bring something positive to our lives.
Motivational hedonism theorises that all behaviour is ruled by the wish to feel pleasure and avoid pain, both consciously and unconsciously. One example of this can be connected to one’s ego, which, unconsciously, is the ruler of one’s actions. Another example can be the pleasure we find in certain foods. When we associate pleasure with eating chocolate, for example, our brain will unconsciously make us hungry for chocolate when we see or smell it, in pursuit of that pleasure again.
Normative hedonism believes that happiness should always be pursued, and it is the single criterion to determine the moral rightness or wrongness of an action. With its rare consideration of the other in this kind of pursuit of pleasure, normative hedonism is often regarded as an egoist version, connected to what is called hedonistic egoism, the theory that, morally speaking, we should do whatever is most in our interest.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, we lastly find hedonistic utilitarianism, the theory that the right action is the one that produces the greatest happiness for all concerned, without adding intrinsic moral value to, for example, justice, truth, and relationships. This branch of hedonism is distinct from hedonistic egoism, as it seeks to maximise overall well-being.
One of the big debates in hedonism is whether helping others is pleasurable. Is it really altruism when one helps another when the real reason behind it is to feel gratification, and not the pure wish of helping for someone else’s good?
So, the final question is: how can we safely be hedonists in our daily lives? It’s all about balance. The main idea to remember is memento mori. Death is inevitable and can happen at any moment, so what’s the point of sacrificing the ourselves of the present for a future self who we are not sure will be there? Well, there is a point, but it shouldn’t be the only thing we focus on. Working for a better future is good, but enjoying the moment is just as important.
Practise conscious hedonism: indulge in the small pleasures of life that you enjoy (e.g. eating your favourite food, reading a book, having coffee with a friend) without forgetting to work on the other aspects of your life that you get to have but don’t seem so pleasurable.
