Hedonism defined in terms of sentience.

[the_truth]

A hedonist believes the following.

"There is only proof that I am sentient. There is no proof that you are sentient. Therefore my will is the only thing that matters in the universe."

This is of course wrong as there is evidence to suggest that you are sentient as we both share certain properties, you merely cannot prove conclusively that other people are sentient due to the hard problem. The hard problem though isn't hard as it is obsoleted by the scientific method, thus hedonism is an incorrect definition.

www.dictionary.com
Psychology. The doctrine holding that behavior is motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

This is only one of 3 outcomes as a hedonist may also: acknowledge that other people are sentient and not care; not recognise the factors at hand.

 

[selfAdjoint]

Aren't you mixing up hedonism ("Only pleasure and pain matter") with selfishness ("Only my will matters")? And it has seemed to me for a long time that all society is based on a fundamental leap of faith:"Never mind the lack of evidence, I DO believe that other people are not zombies!"

 

[the_truth]

"Aren't you mixing up hedonism ("Only pleasure and pain matter") with selfishness ("Only my will matters")? And it has seemed to me for a long time that all society is based on a fundamental leap of faith:"Never mind the lack of evidence, I DO believe that other people are not zombies!""

Evil is defined as causing pain to sentient beings. It is usually thought that greedy people don't care when they commit evil, but it could also be due to the hard problem, that you cannot prove your are sentient because you cannot make another entity perceive what you perceive.

This also leads to the proof that we have that other people are sentient, being that they also have human brains and brings other dilemmas concerning scientific method and the need for an observer in scientific method.