In The Paradox of Hedonism and Its Consequences for Education Feinberg argues that a paradox exists in the psychological egoistic hedonism. Hedonism defined as someone motivated by their desire for pleasure. However, Feinberg argues that happiness in and of itself is unattainable, one can never find the pleasure if she or he only focus on their own happiness. The way to get satisfaction is to successfully pursue something else first, then it will eventually bring the happiness to people. Feinberg also pointed out that a successful educator should produce people like that. In this paper, I reconstruct Feinbergs argument for this conclusion and as well as its application of paradox of hedonism in education.

To illustrate the paradox of hedonism, Feinberg lets readers image a person, called Jones, who avoids any secular activity and no desire for anything else, except a complete preoccupation his own happiness. He pointed out Jones is least likely to get happiness compare to those who successfully pursue secular activity and religious experience. He then unpacks the contraction part of egoistic hedonism, argued that people with true happiness shows that those people have strong desire for something other than their own happiness. Feinberg applies the implications of the paradox of hedonism for educational theory as follows: (P1) Happiness is a good thing to have, educators train child to seek happiness.

(P2) Directly seeking happiness is unattainable, child who has not strong interest in a good thing will unlikely to get happiness.

(P3) Educator should to inspire child to pursuit an interest in good thing as a way to the stage of full happiness.

(C) Therefore, a great successful moral education will create happiness persons who are interesting in good thing and willing to do it simply because it is right. Many parents, especially when they are the childs early full-time educators, wish for the child to grow up with happiness, some of them do not want child to suffer so much in order to find its happiness. However, Feinberg criticizes those parents are unlikely to produces a health happy child, because to get happy, the child has to search some outer-directed interests first. In other words, it is the job of school educators and parents to inspire child to find some interest in good thing. Therefore, a happy child is easily to rise in a good moral education system where the child finds the right interest and willing to do it.