Introduction to Hedonism

According to Google, Hedonism is 'the pursuit of pleasure’ and the word ‘Hedonism’ from the Greek word for ‘delight’. Democritus is the earliest philosopher on record to have embraced a Hedonistic philosophy;claiming that "joy and sorrow are the distinguishing mark of things beatifically and harmful".


It is my personal belief that everything we do is in the pursuit of pleasure, even if we subject ourselves to pain to alternately archive pleasure. 

A good example of my belief system in our western society is we go to school and learn and do homework (which is not often a ‘pleasurable’ activity) to one day get a good job and make money so that we can buy things to make us happy. Ultimately this is a pursuit of pleasure, but the journey to the pleasure is not always an enjoyable one.
I am unsure as to whether this is a Hedonistic view, but I hope to find out. 

There are different types and ideas about Hedonism, which will be discussed further on, but the basic idea of Hedonism has been around since ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt the “Harper’s Song” or “Song of Harper” is a poem which was inscribed in the tomb. The inscriptions were placed alongside an image of blind man playing the harp; it is thought that the harpist played and sang the song during the mortuary feats for the deceased. (Hill, J; 2010; Ancient Egypt Society: Song of the Harper)

Scenes in Harper’s songs entertaining guests at a feast, and sometimes contained Hedonistic elements, encouraging guest to surrender to pleasure and seize the day as be sure they’ll be rewarded for their good with a pleasurable afterlife.  

This a one of Harper's songs attributed to the reign of one of the Intef kings: 

The image of the Blind Harper. 

"Let thy desire flourish,

In order to let thy heart forget the beatifications for thee.
Follow thy desire, as long as thou shalt live.
Put myrrh upon thy head and clothing of fine linen upon thee,
Being anointed with genuine marvels of the god's property.
Set an increase to thy good things;
Let not thy heart flag.
Follow thy desire and thy good.
Fulfill thy needs upon earth, after the command of thy heart,

Until there come for thee that day of mourning."

The first is a nice definition of Hedonism. I hope this introduction was informative and interesting. I'll post more about the history of Hedonism later. 

References

11.  Hill, J; 2010; Ancient Egypt Society: Song of the Harper; Ancient Egypt Online, 06/04/2012; http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/harper-song.html

22.  Moore, Andrew; 2011; Hedonism; Stanford; 06/04/2012; http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/