Single Idea 23033

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 2. Hedonism]

Full Idea

Hedonism failed because it offered as an end of human aspiration an object in which the human spirit, pledged by its own nature to self-betterment, …could never find satisfaction.

Gist of Idea

Hedonism offers no satisfaction, because what we desire is self-betterment

Source

report of T.H. Green (works [1875]) by John H. Muirhead - The Service of the State II

Book Reference

Muirhead,John H.: 'The Service of the State: T.H. Green' [John Murray 2021], p.27


A Reaction

It is always both sad and amusing to see that 150 years ago someone wrote of a doctrine that is still with us that it has 'failed'. Nowadays they try to say the same of physicalism. His objection rests on optimism about humanity.

Related Idea

Idea 22032 Fichte's key claim was that the subjective-objective distinction must itself be subjective [Fichte, by Pinkard]