Again, we may contrast the early Greek hedonists, who bade each man seek the greatest happiness (of whatever kind), with modern utilitarian and social hedonists, who prefer the greatest good or the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
But the controversy between hedonists and antihedonists originates as soon as men reflect that a good which is not in some sense " my " good is not good at all, or that no act can be said to be moral which does not satisfy " me."
It is perhaps too much to hope that the long-continued controversy between hedonists and anti-hedonists has been finally settled.
Practically all hedonists have argued that what are known as the "lower" pleasures are not only ephemeral in themselves but also productive of so great an amount of consequent pain that the wise man cannot regard them as truly pleasurable; the sane hedonist will, therefore, seek those so-called "higher" pleasures which are at once more lasting and less likely to be discounted by consequent pain.
