What Hedonism Might Conceal

Behind every belief is a philosophical worldview, and worldviews have inevitable psychological and behavioral influences on a person's life.  There is no escaping this.  Verifiable, foundational truths like logical axioms provide certainty and stability; other ideas provide instability or the mere illusion of truth and knowledge.  A worldview like hedonism falls into the latter category.  Unprovable as a moral system and nothing more than emotionalism or egoism in practice, hedonism is an epistemological and conceptual failure of a worldview when embraced by anyone.  This is more important than even its inability to subjectively give everyone the peace and fulfillment some might look to it for.

Hedonism is an illogical belief system to hold to because even if pleasure was the greatest or only moral good, there is neither a logical proof that this is true nor any evidence that it is true.  It is epistemologically untenable.  So, too, is the idea that pleasure is inherently evil.  However, hedonists might not even care about this or have never thought about whether pleasure is truly good or just personally desirable to them, as they might just be indulging in whatever arbitrary pleasures they enjoy for the sake of personal gratification.  Someone who truly prioritizes pleasure above all else, including above rationality, self-development, and relationships that are about more than self-gratification, is not likely to be interested in exploring logical truths that do not depend on their approval.

There might be more to their hedonistic tendencies than just philosophical errors and moral apathy, though.  A hedonist might be attempting to flee from grievous personal trauma or hide from themselves by burying unwanted thoughts and feelings using pleasure.  Underneath the craving for pleasure no matter what it originates from--or perhaps a feigned craving--a hedonist might be desperately searching for some way to withstand trials that seem overwhelming or endless.  Most people are not yet rational enough to let reason dictate their worldviews instead of convenience, but not all convenience-related beliefs spring from stupidity only.  Sometimes deep pain drives non-rationalists to familiar or alleged forms of relief.

Whether they take the form of existential dread or abuse inflicted by other people or something else, there are many severe trials that can befall people--even without warning.  People of every ideology have to confront this fact.  Without rationalism, there is no such thing as absolute certainty or a grasp of true consistency and stability, but non-rationalists and rationalists alike can so easily find themselves in the midst of painful trials.  Pleasure will not guarantee that problems will not arise or that they will disappear.  If a hedonist gets desperate enough, he or she might end up unwittingly or even knowingly making their problems worse by living for pleasure at the expense of other things.

The philosophically and behaviorally reckless pursuit of pleasure can simply be a coping mechanism, and one that ultimately fails to actually improve life circumstances, resolve ideological or personal problems, or bring the deepest kind of personal freedom and flourishing.  Aside from its epistemological and moral problems which reduce down to it not logically following from something being pleasurable that it is morally permissible, good, or obligatory, hedonism might conceal a cry for help that even those drowning themselves in pleasure might not be able to silence completely.  In light of this, sometimes probing a hedonist's psychological state and working with them to solve actual problems is a great way to open the door to their eventual abandonment of hedonism.