HEDONISM
What is hedonism?
Hedonism is a sensate rationale for behaviour. The hedonist's primary principle is summed up in the slogan "Just enjoy!" There is nothing wrong with enjoyment per se, provided the experience which provides it is worthwhile. The problem is with the first word in the slogan, namely "just". Hedonists are notorious for sacrificing all other considerations to the search for pleasure. Since most pleasures are quite transient, they find themselves on a constant treadmill on which they go through recurring phases of searching, satisfaction, satiation, dissatisfaction, and renewed searching. Hedonists are "pleasure junkies", addicted to the "high" of gratification which is, alas, only temporary. There is now a merchandising service and catalogue devoted to "hedonics", so there is obviously a lucrative market in catering to such people (provided they are rich enough to afford the pearl-handled, gem-studded hand guns and other trinkets associated with this group). What those who are not exclusively committed to this personal principle might find "shallow and superficial" in the hedonist lifestyle, hedonists themselves insist is sufficiently fulfilling from their point of view, and "what they really want" from their lives.
How is hedonism manifest?
The consumption rationale for hedonists is often "quality" but from outside their ranks it bears a striking resemblance to the "conspicuous consumption" of the Gilded Age of the late19th century United States. Therefore, it was probably someone like Ambrose Bierce who said of them "Nothing exceeds like excess!"
What is rarely considered these days is that the actual consumption patterns that would qualify one for a hedonist in the Gilded Age, are now the aspirations of most people in developed economies, perhaps even of most of humanity. The single two major purchases that millions of people yearn for, are a single-family dwelling, and a single-family automobile. Yet ecologist have indisputably demonstrated that the enormous "ecological footprint" of modern individuals that is so destructive of the environment is primarily caused by the spreading use of the single- family dwelling and the single-family automobile. In terms of grossly wasteful lifestyle, we are (almost) all becoming hedonists now! Imbibing hedonism, like drinking water, is only safe in small amounts - a person can literally drown with just a little more than a glass of water. Those in the home construction and real estate markets have come to imply that the towering monolith in the movie A Space Odyssey is actually a mortgage document! We are squandering our ecological heritage for a house, a lawn, a driveway, and a car - that's hedonism gone mad.
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