Hedonism, << HEE duh nihz uhm, >> is the belief that pleasure is the highest good of life. The term hedonism comes from a Greek word meaning pleasure. In ancient Greece, the Epicureans and Cyrenaics based their ethical philosophies on the idea that pleasure is the highest good. But the Epicureans believed that people should seek pleasures of the mind rather than pleasures of the body. The wise person, they thought, avoids pleasures which may later cause pain. In modern philosophy, hedonism has taken a different form. The hedonistic utilitarians believe that people should seek not their own individual pleasure alone, but the greatest good for the greatest number of people. They think of good in terms of pleasure (see Utilitarianism ).
