HISTORY OF HEDONISM

One early thinker who tackled the idea of hedonism was ancient Greek philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene, who taught that individual pleasure was the highest good. The definition of hedonism has varied throughout the ages, but many have wrestled with the concept of maximising pleasure and minimising pain. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain, and pleasure,” wrote English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. “It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.”