Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The branch of psychology that studies pleasant and unpleasant sensations and states of mind.
  • noun Philosophy The branch of ethics that deals with the relation of pleasure to duty.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That branch of ethics which treats of the doctrine of pleasure; the science of active or positive pleasure or enjoyment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Philos.) That branch of moral philosophy which treats of the relation of duty to pleasure; the science of practical, positive enjoyment or pleasure.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun psychology The ethical study of pleasure

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hedonics.

Examples

  • They ` ve used things called hedonics (ph), various other statistical measures.

    CNN Transcript Apr 28, 2008 2008

  • Some of these CPI ingredients -- product substitution weightings, "hedonics" (price reductions for added product quality or satisfaction), and use of owner's equivalent rent (instead of home ownership costs) -- have a comic aspect suitable to mockery by Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart.

    Kevin Phillips: Washington's Great "No Inflation" Hoax 2008

  • If Von Mises objected to simple CPI indexes as trying to measure something that is impossible to measure, the problem is compounded with nontransparent statistic alchemy such as hedonics or substitution coefficients.

    More on the Inflation Debate - The Austrian Economists 2008

  • But the most outlandish adjustment of them all goes by the name "hedonics," the Greek root of which means "for the pleasure of."

    LewRockwell.com 2010

  • Economists have long resisted the study of happiness, or 'hedonics', because its study is fraught with methodological complication.

    The Financial Express 2009

  • Matt, if you want higher inflation just pretend this is 1979 and you live in a time before the invention of the three key weapons we now use the combat the evil inflationary menace: substitution, weighting, and hedonics.

    Matthew Yglesias » (Part of) The Case for Higher Inflation 2010

  • If computing power follows along the same path as lighting, (1) as his evidence suggests, (2) then (barring hedonics) its contribution to GDP should dim.

    Long-term Growth Forecasts, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • How this fruit is cultivated, harvested, and cured determines the flavor of the final product, and we learn about the hedonics -- the sensual nuances -- of this exotic and temperamental element.

    Boing Boing 2008

  • Today we dive in to the genetics of chocolate plants, and the hedonics -- the tasting experience -- of the finished product, where science meets sensuality meets sugar.

    Boing Boing 2008

  • How this fruit is cultivated, harvested, and cured determines the flavor of the final product, and we learn about the hedonics -- the sensual nuances -- of this exotic and temperamental element.

    Boing Boing 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • The smart folks who make electronics

    Have apps now to test algedonics,

    So sybarites measure

    Their portion of pleasure

    In service to higher hedonics.

    March 7, 2019