Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Diane S's avatar

I tend to view eudaimonic and hedonic sources of happiness as partly distinct from each other but also sharing a good deal of overlap (sometimes like a Venn diagram or even a bell shaped curve), sometimes indistinguishable from each other, sometimes combined and creating a synergistic effect. My observations, professionally and personally, have been that those who create an abundance of eudaimonic joy are also the ones who also get the most deep level pleasure from hedonic sources. These people just seem to be experts in extracting life’s joy. But I don’t see this as much the other way around - those who predominantly seek out hedonic sources seem to feel less overall joy. This is just correlational - not causation. I think dispositional factors can lead some people to seek out the kind of joy they are best able to feel.

Expand full comment
Kelly Flanagan's avatar

Because we've lost touch with our deepest intuition, so we have to rely on particular rules as guardrails, including the avoidance of pleasure, joy, and so many good things?

Expand full comment
3 more comments...

No posts