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To: Hank Kerchief
Who decides what is rational and what is not. Why is being a hedonist irrational if one is perfectly content in being one?
45 posted on 05/01/2003 10:52:31 AM PDT by dubyagee
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To: dubyagee
Who decides what is rational and what is not.

That is supposed to be objective.

Why is being a hedonist irrational if one is perfectly content in being one?

It's not irrational, so long as being a hedonist is in your rational self-interest (as opposed to whatever you think your self-interest might be)

48 posted on 05/01/2003 10:58:08 AM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: dubyagee
The same people that decide what is relative and what is absolute.
53 posted on 05/01/2003 11:03:53 AM PDT by stuartcr
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To: dubyagee
Who decides what is rational and what is not. Why is being a hedonist irrational if one is perfectly content in being one?

No one "decides" what is rational and what is not. Rational has a specific meaning, namely, that reason is mankinds only means to discovering and understanding truth. Rational means using reason as the means of determining what is true or false, or right and wrong.

I will assume you really do not know how "whatever a person is content with" is different from and not the same as "rational self-interest," and are sincere in your question. What someone is "content" with means what ever they "feel OK with," with is subjectivism, and not based on reason. Rational self-interest first discovers what kind of being one is, what is good for that kind of being, and then chooses that rationally understood good, even if one feels horrible about it. It puts reason above immediate pleasure (hedonism) and contentment (subjectivism).

No one decided this. It's what means.

Hank

56 posted on 05/01/2003 11:14:38 AM PDT by Hank Kerchief
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