Ethics is the branch of philosophy which deals with value.
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One pill to make you happier |
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Sunday, 25 March 2007 |
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Katherine Power talks to philosopher David Pearce about utopian pharmacology. The word ‘hedonism’ conjures up a ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle’, so you might expect David Pearce, the Brighton-based author of The Hedonistic Imperative, to be a womanising party animal. Instead, David leads a quiet life, running a small web hosting business and, in his spare time, expanding his website, listening to music and meeting friends at his home from home, Starbucks in Borders, where he drinks copious amounts of black coffee and keeps up with the news.
HedWeb, which includes David’s numerous writings and musings, started in 1996 and now gets around 200,000 unique visitors a month. The core idea of David’s online manifesto is that we should use biotechnology to abolish all forms of suffering throughout the living world. More speculatively, David predicts that our descendants will be motivated by gradients of bliss which may be orders of magnitude richer than anything we can experience today. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 March 2007 )
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Eudaimonia and The Pursuit of Happiness |
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Thursday, 26 October 2006 |
 Are we pursuing the wrong kind of happiness? Are we pursuing the wrong kind of happiness? Jim Baxter asks if an aspect of ancient Greek thought could suggest a better approach for the future. Solon, the Athenian lawmaker, lyric poet and all round swell guy, was asked by King Croesus, “Who is the happiest man you have ever seen?” Solon’s reply was, “I can speak of no man as happy until they are dead.” If this remark sounds bizarre to modern ears, it is because our concept of happiness is very different from that of the ancient Greeks.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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An Introduction to Ethical Hedonism |
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Thursday, 21 September 2006 |
 A life of pleasure? Katherine Power introduces the concept of 'hedonism' as it is understood in philosophy. The word 'hedonism' has at least three senses: the pursuit of pleasure, especially of sensual pleasure; the psychological theory that what motivates behaviour is the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain; and the philosophical theory that pleasure is the ultimate value. This article will touch on all three, but its focus is the latter sense of 'hedonism', also known as 'ethical hedonism'.
It's natural to expect ethical hedonists to be fond of the 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle' but not all hedonists are that keen on sensual pleasure. The Greek ethical hedonist Epicurus (341-270 BC) advocated a quiet life, in which the unnecessary pleasures are given up in order to tame our desires and avoid pain. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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