I agree with both of you, pleasure is beyond basic instinct; way beyond manifestation of animal libido alone, yet both of you have missed the nectar, a real question under a superficial understanding of hedonism.
Any ideology, philosophy or even a medication is developed for some intended results, some times even with due diligence in the process forming an ideology, un-intended off-shoots or by-products are either not conceived or underestimated, yet when ideology is absorbed into the culture, un-intended results overshadow the intended results.
To my understanding a deformed perception of hedonism as “a never ending quest to seek pleasure” has been absorbed into global culture without giving any consideration to academic debate of quantitative, qualitative, utilitarianism or ethics in the path to seek pleasure.
Quest to seek pleasure and that too in the name of happiness is a morbid ideology capable of injecting venom of “individuality” into the fabric of human social structure; it manifests itself into a twisted form of the conception of ego or “I”, which invariably puts an individual ahead of anything when it comes to collecting the perks, thus helps in the creation of society that believes in accumulation of objects or resources for individuals.
Islam identifies true path to happiness in gratification, a philosophy of eternal happiness as oppose to pleasure out of seeking more and more. My second question went un-notices.
To talk about a 'deformed perception of hedonism''s purported effects in a thread titled 'Philosophy of hedonism is akin to talking about 'a deformed perception of Islam''s purported effects in a thread titled "Religion of Islam"
Sure modern society is individualistic and increasingly capitalist/materialist, but you cant really say that philosophy of hedonism is motivating that. I would say that the problem is that there is no philosophy motivating that. people dont really think in terms of philosophy or religion all that much in the specific sort of instances you're talking about.