Hedonism

The conservative blog I have been reading, The View from 1776, wrote an article on hedonism. Many conservative see the world as full of evil and hedonism is one of these evils. This blog associates hedonism with liberalism which it also sees as evil and destroying society.

Admittedly, the word hedonism sounds harsh and derogatory. It sounds like something akin to cannibalism. However, fundamentally it is not evil. The dictionary describes it as the pursuit of pleasure. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with pursuing pleasure because it makes us happy.

Ironically, the American Declaration of Independence, which The View naturally supports, declares the pursuit of happiness - pleasure, as a fundamental human right. The Declaration sees it as unalienable right. So I find it ironic that The View doesn't support hedonism because it naturally follows if one pursues pleasure, if one purses happiness, which the Declaration says is a fundamentally all right, one is being hedonistic.

The View, though, doesn't connect hedonism with the pursuit of happiness. However, as I see it the pursuit of happiness is inexorably linked to hedonism. The “pursuit of happiness” idea in the Declaration was borrowed from Locke's idea about the right of the individual to pursue and own property. It was changed in The Declaration because "property" sounded unpoetic and too materialistic. However, from what I have read the pursuit of happiness means the same thing as the pursuit of property because such a pursuit leads to happiness. So for The Declaration property and happiness are interchangeable.

The View is a great admirer of Adam Smith. Smith told us about the importance of self-interest and its pursuit. Now, to my way of thinking, the pursuit of self-interest leads to and is hedonism because in that pursuit one is pursuing a pleasure and a happiness, a self-fulfillment. The pursuit of self-interest and hedonism, then, are also one in the same. Smith believed that through an ‘invisible hand’, self-interest - hedonism, inevitably converts and manifests itself into acts of good for the whole of society. So I am surprised that The View despises hedonism because perversely it ends up being good for society as a whole.

The View views the individual as paramount in America. It is constantly tells us that individualism is the foundation of America as The Declaration and Constitution intended it to be, as they proclaimed. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that hedonism exists in America writ large because the pursuit of individualism inevitably encourages hedonism. I don't see how one can separate the two. Individualism is the belief that one’s own interest come first and if so, hedonism is bound to follow. As I see it The View is arguing against itself.

Above all, hedonism protects the individual from the State. The View, being conservative, is constantly telling us we should be protected from the intrusion of the State. One sure way of protecting oneself from the State is to show the State who is number one. By being hedonistic, pursuing self-pleasure and interests, one is definitely showing the State just that. It comparison, hedonism was not permitted under communism. And without that basic right, the communist State trampled on all individual rights.

There is something I didn’t mention about The View. Besides being a conservative blog it is also quite religious. So it views hedonism unchristian. It believes that pursuit of happiness in The Declaration is about the pursuit of moral virtue. Therefore, it believes that America has developed and progressed into the great nation it is by pursuing moral virtue. Well, nothing could be less true. That looks good on paper but it isn't reality. America’s and humankind’s moral virtue has generally come as an after thought, developing out of first amoral behavior. In other words, humankind and America have developed perversely, from first behaving badly and doing wrong and then discovering the errors of their ways.

Let’s say that hedonism is an amoral behavior as The View believes. My argument is that without being hedonistic, pursuing self-gratification first, we would not have the foundation to develop into something better. Humans develop perversely, first pursuing their own self-interest and then realizing and becoming enlightened that one cannot only think about one’s own welfare but also that of others if one want to maintain one’s own.

Hedonism is a necessary evil, a wellspring from which better things develops. America has developed and progressed through material hedonism and the View is denying this.