Reaction Paper On Hedonism
In this paper, I will argue that if scientists made a machine that would allow all users to experience anything they wanted, dubbed an experience machine, that it truly would be the best life a human could live. This machine would allow you to live your dream life and experience everything that you would ever want, and you would never know that you were inside the machine and not experiencing the events in real life. Hedonism states that “the good life [is] the pleasant life” (McKinnon 49), and that the best life is one which maximises pleasure and minimises pain, which an experience machine would surely do. A major objection to hedonism is that “not all pleasure is valuable for well-being, or at least that some pleasures are less valuable than others because of non-amount-related factors” (Weijers, “Hedonism”). This argument doesn’t stand up under pressure because all pleasure, whether it be deemed valuable or not …show more content…
It argues that there are varying degrees of pleasure and not all pleasures are useful for someone. An example of a thought experiment against hedonism is as follows, we are to imagine “the life of a very successful businessman who takes great pleasure in being respected by his colleagues, well-liked by his friends, and loved by his wife and children until the day he died”, this life is then juxtaposed on the same life of another businessman, but this time “the businessman is mistaken about how those around him really feel” ( Weijers, “Hedonism”). This theory goes on to state that the second business man lived a worse life because his feelings of pleasure weren’t based on how the people around him really felt, and hence his pleasure, and life, was false and invaluable. This argument to hedonism brings up some weaknesses in the argument and are close to the argument on the experience machine defining what makes pleasure important and needed for a good
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Preference Utilitarianism Theory Analysis
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Martin Seligman's Positive Psychology Fun Vs. Philanthropy
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Aristotle Good Life Analysis
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