The Cyrenaics on the Good Life

c. 435-356 BCE

They said also that pleasure belonged to the body, and constituted its chief good … the chief good is a particular pleasure, but that happiness is a state consisting of a number of particular pleasures, among which, both those which are past, and those which are future, are both enumerated. Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book II, Chapter 8

Allow the ear to hear anything that it likes to hear Allow the ear to hear anything that it likes to hear. Allow the eye to see anything it likes to see. Allow the nose to smell whatever it likes to smell... [to] enjoy oneself until death, for a day, a month, a year-this is what I call cultivating life. Lieh-tzu, quoted in Fung Yu Lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.234

But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” Isaiah 22:13

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure.

They say that prudence is a good, but is not desirable for its own sake, but for the sake of those things which result from it. That a friend is desirable for the sake of the use which we can make of him… [and] they applied themselves to the study of logic, because of its utility. Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book II, Chapter 8

Something has instrumental value if it is valuable, in part, because of what it can do for you. Something has intrinsic value if it is valuable independently of what it can do for you.

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure.

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings.)

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings.)

And although pleasure is desirable for its own sake, still they admit that some of the efficient causes of it are often troublesome, and as such opposite to pleasure… Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book II, Chapter 8

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings.)

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings and the only thing that has such disvalue is pain.)

The proof that pleasure is the chief good is that we are from our childhood attracted to it without any deliberate choice of our own; and that when we have obtained it, we do not seek anything further, and also that there is nothing which we avoid so much as we do its opposite, which is pain. Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book II, Chapter 8

The Newborn Argument Newborns seek pleasure. Newborns lack the mental capacity to seek something as a means. [So] Newborns seek pleasure as an end. If (3), then pleasure is the end of life. Pleasure is the end of life.

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. Psychological Hedonism: Every human action is ultimately motivated by a desire for pleasure.

The Newborn Argument Newborns seek pleasure. Newborns lack the mental capacity to seek something as a means. [So] Newborns seek pleasure as an end. If (3), then pleasure is the end of life. Pleasure is the end of life.

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings and the only thing that has such disvalue is pain.)

Since activities differ in moral value, and some are to be adopted, others to be avoided, and others again are neutral, the same is true also of their pleasures: for each activity has a pleasure of its own. Thus the pleasure of a good activity is morally good, that of a bad one morally bad. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Book 10, Chapter 3

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings and the only thing that has such disvalue is pain.)

Hedonistic Utilitarianism: The morally right action is whatever produces the greatest amount of pleasure minus pain.

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings and the only thing that has such disvalue is pain.)

Pleasure, if it is the highest good must be independent of understanding… [Imagine] If a person experienced only pleasure. He would not understand if he were enjoying himself or not, being devoid of intelligence. Lacking memory, he would not remember that he enjoyed himself. Pleasure could not survive from one moment to the next, since it would leave no memory. You could not figure out any future pleasure for yourself. You would not live a human life but the life of a mollusk. Plato, Philebus

It is quite compatible with the principle of utility to recognise the fact, that some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others… quality is considered as well as quantity… [That is why] utilitarian writers in general have placed the superiority of mental over bodily pleasures. J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism, Chapter 2

They said also that pleasure belonged to the body, and constituted its chief good… corporeal pleasures were superior to mental ones, and corporeal sufferings worse than mental ones. Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book II, Chapter 8

Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i. e Hedonism: The good life consists in pleasure. (i.e., pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic, pragmatic value for human beings and the only thing that has such disvalue is pain.)