Pleasure as Ultimate Good

Hedonism at its core makes a deceptively simple claim: pleasure is the only thing that is good in itself, and pain is the only thing that is bad in itself. Everything else — money, knowledge, achievement — is valuable only because it produces pleasure or reduces pain.

This is not about wild parties. Philosophical hedonism is a theory about what makes life go well. If you had to explain why anything matters, hedonism says you will always trace it back to a feeling. Why is friendship good? Because it feels good. Why is illness bad? Because it feels bad.