Hêdonê
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hēdonē (Ηδονή) is an English transliteration of a Greek word meaning pleasure, and is the root of the English word "hedonism". In the philosophy of Epicurus, hēdonē was the quest for pleasure that would have only good consequences. This concept strikes a sharp contrast with the words "hedonism" and even "pleasure" in English today; the former implies wanton pursuit of pleasure with disregard to all else, and the latter has no inherent connotations that extend the meaning beyond the immediate experiences it describes.