“The art of life lies in taking pleasures as they pass, and the keenest pleasures are not intellectual, nor are they always moral.”
The great Greek philosopher Aristippus was a student of Socrates and an early proponent of hedonism. Hedonism is composed of two key beliefs: first, that pleasure is the highest moral good and second, that now is the most important moment. Hedonism is undoubtedly the philosophy of the modern age and that makes Aristippus our patron saint.
Perhaps the reason Aristippus is not as well known as other great philosophers is that the things he said are things that we all believe anyway. We don’t necessarily need the help of a wise old bearded man in robes to reveal things we already know.
“Good cheer is no hindrance to a good life.”
Of course it’s not! Could a life even be called good if you must constantly give up music and parties and alcohol in order to have it?
But we do need Aristippus today for one simple reason: we grow up being socialized into believing that hedonism is wrong and giving up pleasure in the name of some abstract higher goal is good, that thinking about the future and considering the feelings of other people is good. And the only reason we could possibly believe those things is because we were socialized to.
We live today in an amazing world. You don’t have to scrounge for food, don’t have to make your own clothes, don’t have to build your own home. Within 15 minutes of your house is any food that your heart could desire. Within a few hours of your local airport is any beautiful spot on the entire planet. Within a few clicks of your keyboard is any gorgeous human being you could ever hope to see naked.
And you know what they say? How could anything that feels so good—gorging on a fine meal, relaxing on a sun kissed beach, or drinking in the raw sight of a paragon of your preferred sex—ever be wrong?
Not only are the pleasures themselves overwhelmingly available, so is freedom from most of the unpleasant side effects. Between insulin, penicillin, and birth control, your lifetime can hold more moments of bliss than Aristippus could have imagined.
Truly, there has never been a better moment to be a hedonist.
And yet, this is the moment with the least happiness and satisfaction in human history.
Are you happy? Are you satisfied with your life?
If not, you already know what you have to do. Listen to the wise old Greek philosopher. Stop thinking about the future. Stop worrying about other people. Take more pleasures as they pass, especially those neither intellectual nor moral. Watch more porn. Eat more cookies. Smoke more marijuana. Work less hard. The only reason you could possibly be unhappy is because you’re not doing enough of what you want to do!
