Science of Pleasure IV

Epicureans offer a corrective to the utilitarian account of pleasure in a second aspect also. The epicurean recognizes the ways in which our beliefs affect our happiness. For example, they encourage us to develop a disposition toward gratitude. If we give thanks for the good things in our lives, if we don’t believe we deserve them as our right but can welcome them as a gift, we will be happier. (Epicureans also claim that belief an judgmental gods and belief in an afterlife in which one suffers under the judgment of those gods leads to unhappiness. In the pursuit of happiness, we should jettison such beliefs.)