Friday, January 30, 2015

An Important Book: 'The Hedonistic Imperative'




Few things have influenced and inspired me as much as The Hedonistic Imperative by David Pearce  a controversial book that advocates for the end of suffering and which presents a rough sketch of how it may be achievable. It is a book that holds the unique quality of being both a plausible prescription for, and description of, what our future should and will look like. Yet whether this prescription will end up being a description too depends upon whether we actually embrace the prescription today, and whether we decide to work toward it. For that reason, it is important that we spread and discuss the ideas presented in The Hedonistic Imperative today, and it is even so regardless of whether we embrace its prescription or not, because the possibilities the book describes will soon be a reality, and they will be the context in which our decisions will be made.

I can therefore only encourage and recommend everyone to read this book and to contemplate, spread and discuss its ideas. The book is demanding and requires some effort (and a search engine), yet it is well worth it. It is available for free here:


http://www.hedweb.com/


The following video gives a brief introduction to the ideas of David Pearce: