Hedonism — An ethical doctrine holding that pleasure (hedone) is the highest good and the only genuine motive for action. The hedonism of Aristippus of Cyrene identified the good with immediate, bodily pleasure. Epicurus distinguished pleasures: kinetic (active, intense, potentially disturbing) from katastematic (stable, absence of pain — aponia — and disturbance — ataraxia). Bentham’s utilitarianism makes pleasure and pain the foundation of moral calculation.
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