Hedone (Ancient Greek:ἡδονή,romanized: hēdonē) is theGreek word meaning "pleasure." It was an important concept inAncient Greek philosophy, especially in theEpicurean school. It is also the root of the English word "hedonism".
InGreek mythology, Hedone is personified as a goddess of pleasure, enjoyment, and delight, as the daughter born from the union ofEros (personification of love) andPsyche (personification of the soul).[1] She was associated more specifically with sensual pleasure. Her opposites were theAlgea, personifications of pain.[2] Her equivalent inRoman mythology isVoluptas. There is no evidence that she was ever the object of cult worship.
Aristotle identified it as one of the two elements or components ofpathe, with the other beinglype or pain.[3] Aristotle describedpathe in these words: "Let the emotions be all those things on account of which people change their minds and differ in regard to their judgments, and upon which attend pain and pleasure."[4]
Hēdonē, is part of Aristotle's account of virtue, such that 'pleasure' (along with pain) is said to reveal a person's character.[5] It is good if it is a consequence of a virtuous life -- as opposed to the positionAristippus, who holds that hēdonē is "wholly good".[6] An example is the concept of proper pleasure oroikeia hedone, which Aristotle discusses in /Poetics/ and considers a process of restoration.[7]Martin Heidegger interprets Aristotelian hēdonē : that pleasure is a movement of the soul and that tranquility arises from it.[8]
In the philosophy ofEpicurus,hēdonē is described as a pleasure that may or may not derive from actions that are virtuous, whereas another form of pleasure,terpsis, is always virtuous.[9] Another Epicurean reading, which distinguishedhēdonē fromterpsis, referred to it as a feeling of pleasure that is episodic and might or might not be beneficial.[10] According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Epicurus useshēdonē in reference to only physical pleasures.[11]
TheStoics held a negative view ofhēdonē, arguing that it is not in accordance with nature and reason.[6] This can be understood within the philosophy's position that emotions are by definition excessive or are excessive impulses that exceed the measure of natural reason and – as in other forms of excess – leads to other evils of irrationality.[12]
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