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Theparadox of hedonism, also called thepleasure paradox, refers to the practical difficulties encountered in the pursuit ofpleasure. For thehedonist, constant pleasure-seeking may not yield the most actual pleasure orhappiness in the long term when consciously pursuing pleasure interferes with experiencing it.
The term "paradox of hedonism" was coined byutilitarian philosopherHenry Sidgwick inThe Methods of Ethics.[1][2] Variations appear in the realms ofphilosophy,psychology, andeconomics.
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Failing to attain pleasures while deliberately seeking them has been variously described:
But I now thought that this end [one's happiness] was only to be attained by not making it the direct end. Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness[...] Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness along the way[...] Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.
— John Stuart Mill,Autobiography (1909)[3]
Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.The more a man tries to demonstrate his sexual potency or a woman her ability to experience orgasm, the less they are able to succeed. Pleasure is, and must remain, a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself.
Happiness is like a cat, if you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap.[4][5]
When one aims solely towards pleasure itself, one's aim may be frustrated.Henry Sidgwick comments on such frustration after a discussion of self-love in the above-mentioned work:
I should not, however, infer from this that the pursuit of pleasure is necessarily self-defeating and futile; but merely that the principle of Egoistic Hedonism, when applied with a due knowledge of the laws of human nature, is practically self-limiting; i.e., that a rational method of attaining the end at which it aims requires that we should to some extent put it out of sight and not directly aim at it.[6]
While not addressing the paradox directly,Aristotle commented on the futility of pursuing pleasure.[7]
Sooner or later, finite beings will be unable to acquire and expend the resources necessary to maintain their sole goal of pleasure; thus, they find themselves in the company of misery.Evolutionary theory explains that humans evolved through natural selection and follow genetic imperatives that seek to maximizereproduction,[8] nothappiness. According toDavid Pearce, the extent of human happiness is limited biologically by a genetically determined baseline level of well-being that cannot be permanently altered through environmental improvements alone. He argues in his treatiseThe Hedonistic Imperative that humans might be able to usegenetic engineering,nanotechnology, andneuroscience to eliminate suffering in all human life and allow for peak levels of happiness and pleasure that are currently unimaginable.[9]
Competing philosophies seek to balance hedonism with good acts and intentions, thus "earning" the pleasure.[10]
