How Star Trek shows that hedonism can work for everyone

*Originally published on September 8, 2020.

In philosophy, hedonism is one answer to the question: "what is good in life?" 

Throughout history, philosophers have come up with answers like, 'a good life is one lived with temperance, piety, or obedience to authority.' 

Hedonism questions these sorts of values by saying goodness is simply ... feeling good, says Evan Tiffany, an associate professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University.

"So for a hedonist, value is ultimately about our own subjective experience of the world. And things are valuable insofar as that subjective experience is pleasurable or pleasant."

To Tiffany, hedonism can be helpful in questioning the values that we hold as a society. In the past, when a good life was considered to be one lived with piety or obedience, hedonism shook things up.

"One of the features of hedonism that some people find attractive is it's very anti-paternalistic. So whatever gives you pleasure? That's good for you. And who am I to say what's good or bad for you? Who are you to say what's good and bad for me?" 

Hedonism can be about the simple things

One of antiquity's famous hedonists was Greek philosopher Epicurus. In the 3rd century BCE, he founded a school outside of Athens called "The Garden." Today, Epicureanism is associated with good wine and food, but the hedonism of Epicurus was a little more austere. 

Alison Keith, a professor of classics at the University of Toronto, says Epicureanism was all about freeing oneself from fear.

"The Epicureans were driven by fear. And the state that he thought was most blessed, was ataraxia, a state of being untroubled, a state of being without physical pain, without working physically, one of mental quietude, tranquillity, mental peace."

According to Keith, Epicurus believed that a lot of fear and discomfort was brought on by the pursuit of worldly things like money, career, and politics.

"He thought that the ideal life involved, not toiling in mines, and certainly not toiling in an army, and definitely not in the city in politics, not being a shoemaker…. the whole point is to lead a contemplative life."

Epicurus found pleasure in friendship, philosophical discussion, and living simply, according to Keith.

"Epicurus also says to satisfy natural desires and not, of course, to excess or debauchery, but simply to satisfy them to the limit, you don't need a lot of money and you can easily acquire the money to satisfy these.

"So, again, this is a recommendation against ambition that is fuelled by greed for money."

Step aboard the 'pleasure planet'

If you want a world free of work and suffering, where money is not the measure of a good life, and people can indulge in a little pleasure without judgement, that world can be found in Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

According to Peter Frase, editor and author of the book Four Futures: Life After Capitalism, TV shows like Star Trek can be helpful to think about, when wondering how to improve our own world. 

"It can be useful to think in terms of fiction, in terms of storytelling and narrative, because it allows us to imagine possibilities. It allows us to imagine radically different forms of society without getting too caught up in prediction or in the details of planning out exactly how things are are supposed to be.

"So it brings that imaginative element into analyzing our current society."

In the show, technology has reduced the need for work, and Earth's governments have eliminated poverty and homelessness. Essentially, guaranteeing a world where people are free to pursue their own pleasure.

"What that means is that you fundamentally don't have to go and join Starfleet, if you just want to kind of chill all day.. or paint or... have a hobbyist vineyard, which is what the family of Jean-Luc Picard, the captain on Star Trek, The Next Generation, does — all that is open to you," Frase tells IDEAS.

"And so that's the fundamental difference, that basic safety net or more than a safety net, that basic set of preconditions where, you will not starve, you will not be hungry or homeless, is there. And then what people choose to do after that is up to them."

If you want to just hang out and play video games and smoke weed, does that make you a bad person?- Peter Frase

Frase says what's useful about Star Trek is that it shows us the shortcomings of the values we hold today around work and the pursuit of wealth. The world of Star Trek is one where the goal of society is to eliminate poverty."

"That life is available to people, like broadly available in a way that it isn't in our society, that it wasn't in Epicurus' society, that it hasn't really been in any existing human society, in that you have the material preconditions to pursue friendship and philosophy.

"You're not constantly trying to find a way to provide for those material needs that are the precondition for all of those higher things that Epicurus is talking about."

Frase does point out that any kind of conception of the good life can get complicated, as it has the potential to moralize and prescribe a quality to it.

"If you just kind of want to if you want to just hang out and play video games and smoke weed, does that make you a bad person? Does that make you a worse person than the person who does philosophy all day? I think that's always a question that's raised when we imagine what the good life is."
 

Guests in this episode:

Evan Tiffany is an associate professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University.
Alison Keith is a professor and director of the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto.
Kurt Lampe is a senior lecturer in the department of Classics & Ancient History at the University of Bristol.
Peter Frase is the author of Four Futures: Life After Capitalism.

This episode is part of our series on the idea of the Common Good — the eternal search for humankind: what does it mean to live together in society, and how might we best share the world we live in? Find more Common Good episodes here.

*This episode was produced by Matthew Lazin-Ryder.