If it is the pursuit of happiness, What is it's opposite? I seriously doubt anyone can say that happiness is not pleasurable, and happiness could, arguably, be said to be the highest form of pleasure. Is happiness/pleasure good? If it is, then that which brings the most happiness to the greatest number of people could be said to be the greatest good...which, by the way, is the definition of hedonism.
If it is, then that which brings the most happiness to the greatest number of people could be said to be the greatest good...which, by the way, is the definition of hedonism.
Much of what I punctuate here as a sentence isn't a sentence, yet I think it is usually understandable. I can't make hide nor hair of this one, though. Break this down for me, isle.
"If it is [happiness being the highest form of pleasure], then that which brings the most happiness to the greatest number of people could be said to be the greatest good...which, by the way, is the definition of hedonism [Pleasure being the highest/greatest good]."
Does that, pb, make it any clearer to you? If you can grasp the meaning, perhaps you'd like to take a stab at clarifying what you call a hedonistic lifestyle, and we can see how, or if, it differs from the above
I know that sometimes my use of the language is a little sloppy and it may be that I've spoken about living hedonistic lifestyle. I don't recall that I have. I searched for 'hedonistic lifestyle' on SS and found me using the words only on this thread. What I have spoken of repeatedly is holding a hedonist worldview.
My guess is that this is a 'Do you still beat your wife?" question.
In any case, isle, since I don't remember speaking about a hedonistic lifestyle and never intended to do if I misspoke, it will be hard for me to define what I, for one, mean by it.
Don't play dumb, Poops. Islander's statement is as clear as can be. You're just dodging and splitting hairs in an attempt to cloud the issue. If you accuse others of being "hedonists" and hedonism is the view that pleasure it the greatest good, such a view would be so pervasive in one's life that it could certainly amount to a "lifestyle" (another word that is overused for convenience).
There is nothing wrong or evil about pleasure in itself, since we all take pleasure in many many things. There might be something wrong in taking pleasure in certain things, but that's a different thing. There is probably something wrong in making pleasure the HIGHEST good, but you've failed to prove that anyone here does in fact consider pleasure in itself the highest good. You've only shown that some of us take pleasure in some things that you don't in particular, which basically amounts to saying "What I take pleasure in is right, and what you take pleasure in is wrong".
As for me, I'm quite suspicious of superlatives like "highest" or "best" and try to avoid them in my own life.
"In any case, isle, since I don't remember speaking about a hedonistic lifestyle and never intended to do if I misspoke, it will be hard for me to define what I, for one, mean by it." ---pb
Pssst!
Pastor Bill! Check out your notes to Ponderer on her, "A Serious Question For PB...." thread! LOL
Don't play dumb, Poops. Islander's statement is as clear as can be. You're just dodging and splitting hairs in an attempt to cloud the issue. If you accuse others of being "hedonists" and hedonism is the view that pleasure it the greatest good, such a view would be so pervasive in one's life that it could certainly amount to a "lifestyle" (another word that is overused for convenience).
For me, hedonism is a way of thinking. Certainly, a lifestyle will derive from it if it is lived consistently.
As for me, I'm quite suspicious of superlatives like "highest" or "best" and try to avoid them in my own life.
So, there's no core principle around you live your life? You're Forest Gump? You're the feather?
How should Christians conduct themselves? Just mind your own business.
ant,
Wouldn't you say that it is a good thing that Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't. Or the radicals that forced the end of slavery or the Christians who started the women's rights movement in the early 1800s and kept going until women were granted equal rights. You don't really think Christians should mind their own business. You just want them to permit you to live your narcissistic and hedonistic lifestyle.
Liberals bow before a Democratic Party that ignores them and does the bidding of corporations. The reflexive deference to the Democrats by the liberal class is the result of cowardice and fear. It is also the result of an infantile understanding of the mechanisms of power. The divide is not between Republican and Democrat. It is a divide between the corporate state and the citizen. It is a divide between capitalists and workers. - Chris Hedges
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2009 08:57PM by PowerToThePeople.
Another example of why I don't get involved in lengthy debates with you; you refuse to debate honestly.
Everyone can see quite clearly that you just don't want to answer the question. And as for the excuse you gave Ponderer this morning (something to the effect that you have more important things on your mind today) whatever else you supposedly have going on today sure doesn't seem to be holding you back from participating on the forum so far.
And as for the excuse you gave Ponderer this morning (something to the effect that you have more important things on your mind today) whatever else you supposedly have going on today sure doesn't seem to be holding you back from participating on the forum so far.
I have a few minutes here and there to pop in and out. That's all. Keep your knickers on.
"Another example of why I don't get involved in lengthy debates with you; you refuse to debate honestly."---PTTP
PTTP, it's not necessary for Pastor Bill to debate honestly. You have to keep in mind, he's a preacher, an ambassador for Christ and a representative of the Emergent Church! When dealing with atheists, agnostics, and infidels (and probably anyone else who disagrees with him), the concept of honesty does not apply. When dealing with these preacher guys, this is to be expected. They have to be good at deception, it's how they make their living...that's just the way it is!
PTTP, it's not necessary for Pastor Bill to debate honestly. You have to keep in mind, he's a preacher, an ambassador for Christ and a representative of the Emergent Church!
Emerging.
I wonder, hank, from whence this anger in you comes.
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