释义 |
hedonic, a. and n.|hiːˈdɒnɪk| [ad. Gr. ἡδονικός pleasurable, f. ἡδονή pleasure.] A. adj. 1. Of or relating to pleasure. (In first quot. applied to the Cyrenaic school of philosophers: see B. 1.) In wider use, chiefly in Psychol.: of, pertaining to, or involving pleasurable or painful sensations or feelings, considered as affects. Spec. hedonic tone, the degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness associated with an experience or state, esp. considered as a single quantity that can range from extreme pleasure to extreme pain.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. iv. (1701) 134/1 Aristippus..Instituted a Sect called Cyrenaick from the place, by some Hedonick, or voluptuous, from the Doctrine. a1866J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. xi. (1870) 182 ‘Hedonic’ knowledge. 1880Mind V. 88 The defects of Mill's Hedonic philosophy. 1901G. F. Stout Man. Psychol. (ed. 2) i. i. 63 When we wish to say that pleasure or displeasure belongs to this or that mental process, we say that the process is pleasantly or unpleasantly toned. Hedonic-tone is a generic term for pleasure and the reverse, considered as attributes of this or that mental process. Ibid., Anger has hedonic-tone, mostly of an unpleasant kind. 1932J. G. Beebe-Center Psychol. Pleasantness & Unpleasantness i. 6 In the present volume..the general algebraic variable, whose positive values correspond to pleasantness and whose negative values correspond to unpleasantness, will be called hedonic tone. 1940Jrnl. Exper. Psychol. XXVI. 233 The oscillations of hedonic tone in his case are slight, and the tone rises continuously from the beginning, in spite of pain and fatigue. Ibid. 227 While Ss worked Es took their tapping rate every minute..and in a number of cases called at stated intervals for a rating on a previously agreed hedonic scale. 1952D. J. O'Connor John Locke 51 By pleasure and pain Locke..is referring to what the psychologists nowadays call the hedonic tone of our experiences which can be roughly measured on a scale ranging from very pleasant through mildly pleasant, neutral, mildly unpleasant to very unpleasant. 1961P. T. Young Motivation & Emotion v. 153 The sign, intensity, and temporal changes of affective processes can be represented upon the hedonic continuum. 2. Zool. Of or pertaining to sexual activity; hedonic gland, any of various specialized glands found in many reptiles and amphibia that serve, apparently by secreting an attractive-smelling substance, to attract members of the opposite sex.
1901H. Gadow Amphibia & Reptiles x. 443 All the recent Crocodilia possess two pairs of skin-glands, both secreting musk... The use of these strongly scented organs, which are possessed by both sexes, is obviously hedonic. Ibid. 658/2 (index) Hedonic glands (ἡδονή, lust). 1931G. K. Noble Biol. Amphibia vi. 137 The secretions of the hedonic glands of newts and plethodontid salamanders have no recognizable odor and yet they seem to function in holding the attention of the female during courtship. 1960H. M. Smith Evol. Chordate Struct. xiii. 344 A large number of integumentary glands of spotty distribution among vertebrates are of hedonic function. B. n. †1. One who maintains that pleasure is the proper end of action; applied to the ancient Greek school of philosophers (Gr. οἱ ἡδονικοί) otherwise called cyrenaics. Obs.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 75 Our Fellow-Atheists, the Hedonicks and Cyrenaicks. 2. pl. hedonics: The doctrine of pleasure; that part of ethics which treats of pleasure.
1865J. Grote Treat. Mor. Ideas ii. (1876) 14 The unideal form of eudæmonics of which I have spoken is hedonics, or a science of indolentia. a1866― Exam. Utilit. Philos. ii. (1870) 181 Hedonics, or the science of human pleasure. 1879Mill Hill Mag. June 6 And now one rises to bepraise John Stuart Mill's hedonics. So heˈdonically adv.
1951H. A. Murray in Parsons & Shils Toward Gen. Theory Action iv. iii. 456 The kinds of events that are hedonically negative and the kinds that are hedonically positive. Ibid. 457 The aim of all needs is hedonically positive (in the imagination). 1961P. T. Young Motivation & Emotion ii. 49 It is reasonable to assume that playful behavior is generally enjoyable, hedonically positive. |