by Vittorio P. Cuneo-Flood

I’m a raging hedonist,
As hedy as can be.
You’ve never met a man who loves
Pleasure more than me.

Never ever I tell Thee! Let me assume, that you, like me, wish to live the most pleasurable existence possible. It seems to me, that since this is the ultimate aim of our life, what the pleasurable life is exactly, merits an investigation; for, all our actions seek it. I think, that the most pleasurable life will be the one with the greatest pleasure for the longest time. But first, let us examine what makes an activity pleasurable.

Now, in every activity there are two factors which contribute to amount of pleasure: the objective part and the subjective part. If you were to look at a painting, your eye would be the subjective; the painting, the objective. When eating: your taste-buds, the subjective; the cake, the objective. Now, if there is a defect with the subjective part, you would experience little or no pleasure; if you are blind you get no pleasure from looking at a painting. So too, if I were to draw a picture for this article; I imagine that not only would you experience no pleasure, but pain; the reason being that the subjective part is bad. We have made a discovery! The activity or activities in which both the objective and subjective are of the highest quality will be the most pleasurable. Enough said on this for now.

Let us move to discussing the nature of pleasure. There are those who would say that pleasure is one thing. A recollection of our past experiences prove this is wrong. Do we not find, that there is a particular pleasure for every activity? Isn’t the pleasure you get from eating a Malteser different from eating a Twix? Similarly, isn’t the pleasure you get from writing an essay of a wholly different kind, than that of watching a film; different again from drinking coffee, and speaking of the Socio-Economic problems of 19th c. France? My point is that pleasure isn’t something which can be separated from the activity, but is something which is superadded to an activity, or comes along with it.

Delving deeper, I think we find that there is an inextricable link not only between the activity and pleasure, as explained in the previous paragraph; but also, between the good of the activity and pleasure. Eating one slice of cake is pleasurable when it is part of a nutritious meal; but doesn’t eating cake cease to become pleasurable when you know that you’ve eaten more than is reasonable? Herein lies secret to pleasure. What is the difference between these two actions? The first is rational, for you eat for the sake of your health, and eating the first slice doesn’t damage it. However, the second act is irrational i.e it is contrary to reason. The first act aims at the good of eating, the second act ignores it.

The rational life, then, is the most pleasurable. Think about it for a moment, the only way to guarantee continuous pleasure, is to always do that activity which is according to reason. If war breaks out, if family members die, if you fail your exams, if you miss lunch, if you forget your pen to class … the most pleasurable existence lies in doing the right thing. When a spouse cheats on the other, isn’t this act executed when pleasure is sought without reference to the good of the activity, viz., the justice owed to the other in remaining faithful? Some hedonists, would have to argue, that if pleasure is the end of life, regardless of what is right, spouses who have made vows should cheat all the time! If they shouldn’t, the only reason why is because what is good should be accounted for; and if what is good should be accounted for, then we ought to live our life according to reason. And this is the beauty of it all: that the right/moral/good life is the most pleasurable one.

It is clear, then, that the virtuous life, or the life according to reason, is the only life which guarantees continuous pleasure. But one question remains: what activity in particular is the most pleasurable? As stated at the beginning, it would have to be that activity in which our highest faculty is perfected and has the highest good as their object. And what is the highest, most desirable good if not God, who is goodness itself? The beatific vision, then, of gazing face-to-face with the inexhaustible Blessed Trinity for all eternity is the most blessed, the most pleasurable, and happiest existence. If you are seeking a hedonist’s paradise, you are seeking heaven.