ABSTRACT
Transition from drive theory to hedonism is most instructive to study. For it seems odd that a theory as hoary as hedonism should be resurrected to explain phenomena which meets with every day lives, especially in view of the fact that philosophers have ceased to regard hedonism as an explanatory theory. Perhaps the ranges of phenomena which have aroused most universal interest are those which seem to be initiated by some kind of external stimulation. Another move away from drive-reduction is that of workers in the therapeutic field who frankly wish to turn psychology into a sort of social technology, on the odd assumption that their findings might have relevance to the long-scale promotion of 'the good life'. Modern versions of hedonism are one of sophistication about the concept of 'pleasure'. Theorists, no less than common-sense people, are confronted with cases where there is no readily identifiable 'extrinsic end'.
