<p>“Dude jumps onto a grenade to save his friends. Did this make him happier? Was there any hedonic calculation made, or was it just “Human beings. It’s my duty to save.” /jump?”</p>
<p>In this situation, neither alternative really brings anyone happiness, but jumping on the grenade probably allowed the guy to feel less (long-term emotional) pain than he would have if he hadn’t jumped. And reducing pain increases the net happiness, so it’s still kind of hedonistic. Doing the selfless and morally correct thing made him “happy”, and he reduced his long-term pain because he knew he wouldn’t have to live knowing that his friends had died and he could have done something.
(There’s a point at which actions like this are sort of reflexive. If there was no thinking involved at all, an action couldn’t be consciously hedonistic, but it probably wouldn’t really be a “voluntary action” either.)</p>