“Choose to be happy.” This is what mom has always said, since a very young age and still to this day she tells everyone. For so long, it was just “mom talk”, those things your mother says that is supposed to make you stop and think. Yet, being too young, dumb and full of it, to really understand what she means. Curiosity emerges and suddenly there is a need to understand what it really means to be happy, what constitutes Happiness? So follow up with some research, entering the bookstore, gliding in and out of the rows and rows in the self-help sections are others, asking the same question. What is happiness? Where does it come from, are we born with it or do we make it happen? Happiness is but a belief, an idea, a theory; but theories, beliefs, and ideas have the possibility of being wrong. Can someone learn and choose to be happy? In this paradox it is hopeful to find some close truths about happiness and what is the need for this emotion. With our individual characteristics, patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting are we already born to be either happy or sad? What are the basic perspectives of the psychoanalytic and Humanistic nature for the people who make up this world who are always happy? Since the time of Aristotle his “telos”, or the end goal, was the same for all people, happiness. In Aristotle’s world, there are strongly knit groups where no strong distinction exists between public and private life. Everyone shares the same goals and values, so the pursuit of happiness is a cooperative initiative. That may have been the case back then, but in this day and time, not so much. Finding happiness and even defining happiness varies from person to person, between cultures and generations.
Why not start with one of the gr...
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...s can be figuratively compared with jargon, the light at the end of the tunnel and the “silver lining behind the dark cloud”. These are expressions of the optimistic outlook of happiness, they represent hope of a better and brighter future even in the midst of what could be termed as a bad day or the worst day of their life.
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Happiness, to Aristotle, is a term for which much exactitude must be made. He understands that, "Happiness both the refined and the few call it, but about the nature of this Happiness, men dispute." As such, he goes to great lengths to attain a fairly accurate accounting of what he sees as Happiness. He begins by illustrating that Happiness is an End, establishes what he finds the work of Man to be, sets conditions on being happy, and then explains where in Man the cultivation of Happiness is to be sought. The result of all these ideas is his fully developed sense of Happiness, an understanding vital to his conception of Ethics.
Many live attempting to decipher the riddle of life. What is life? What is the purpose? What makes? Even though we only seek happiness why can’t we ever seem to achieve it? When we do reach happiness why can’t we seem to grasp it and hold it for more than the few short hours that pass like seconds? The question we must answer first is “What makes happiness, true?”
From chasing joy to evading misery, it seems as if the ultimate purpose in life is to achieve happiness. However, the question regarding how to define and acquire happiness has continued to be a disputed topic. Beginning back in 350 BC, Aristotle developed and supported his view on human happiness as the fundamental end goal of human life in Nichomachean Ethics. However, others did not universally agree upon Aristotle’s accounts and ideas about happiness. In around 550 BC, Solon preached his own theory on happiness in The Histories, stating that a person’s happiness cannot be determined until death, testing Aristotle’s beliefs. Solon attempts, but fails, to refute Aristotle’s belief that happiness is an eternal, virtuous state, by arguing instead that happiness is subject to change.
Happiness has always been a desirable goal throughout our lives, but each actions we take might just affect the happiness of others. When humans seek happiness, we always seek for things that make us feel alive, or things that brings us the greatest comfort. Our contentment comes with the act of selfishness since we choose to prioritize our happiness above all other. We willingly classify happiness in two different types of meaning, both physical and mental happiness. People ought not be in title to happiness because it is classified in general as a physical desire by many people. Contentment is always known to be a physical satisfaction in life instead of a self-inducing satisfaction for life.
Everyone chases after happiness. Everyone’s goal of life is being happy. Each of them chooses a variety of measures, such as earning money, to be happy. However, there are many people that are not happy. People always endeavor after happiness, but they never reach it. For what reason are they not able to fulfill their standards of happiness? What effort should they put into their lives to meet them? This essay will explain why people fail to be happy and what people are supposed to do in order to gain happiness.
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Happiness is defined as a “state of being happy”. This concept of happiness seems rather simple to the ordinary person. According to Aristotle and Immanuel Kant, happiness is not merely a state. In fact, there is a lot more substance within the dimension of happiness that one must acquire and comprehend to achieve. While Aristotle defines happiness as the final end and self sufficient (8), Kant does not. Instead, Kant emphasizes the kingdom of ends, in which all are subject to the categorical imperative as rational autonomous beings with the intention of universalizing one’s maxim, not happiness. This paper will explore Aristotle’s definition of happiness in comparison to Kant’s.
Before we look into specifics, we’ll examine the history and development of “happiness” as a philosophy. Of course, the emotion of happiness has always existed, but it began to be seriously contemplated around 2,500 years ago by philosophers like Confucius, Buddha, Socrates and Aristotle. Shortly after Buddha taught his followers his Noble Eight Fold Path (which we will talk about later), Aristotle was teaching that happiness is “dependent on the individual” (Aristotle).
Aristotle is a strong believer that reaching happiness is the ultimate goal of humans. He says, “Another belief which harmonizes with our account is that the happy man
Happiness is the main focus in life and should always be held most high according to Aristotle. He spends a great deal of time explaining how to achieve this we will see that, Aristotle was sure a genuinely happy life required a combination of many things. Which included physical and mental health? Bringing about a scientific way to look at happiness in its entirety.
The old cliché “Money cannot buy happiness” is a true fact that many people say all the time. A man with all the riches of the world cannot buy happiness. However, a poor man, without a cent to his name can obtain happiness if he wants, because happiness comes from within. Aristotle, an ancient Greek Philosopher and scientist proposed the idea of Eudaimonic Happiness nearly two and a half years ago. His idea was essentially that to obtain happiness one must practice being engaged in the process of happiness. Aristotle is known for the statement “Happiness, it’s living in a way that fulfills our purpose”
Happiness is not easy to define. A good life has one characteristic – happiness. Happiness can be defined as pleasure, joy, contentment and satisfaction. Understandings of how to be happy were changing throughout the history. Aristotle who lived in 4th century BC in Athens and Schopenhauer who is19th century philosopher from Germany have contrasting understanding of happiness. In this essay I will argue that Aristotle and Schopenhauer provide accounts of happiness that are useful to contemporary society. The reason for this is that happiness is universal and people’s ways to achieve it did not changed tremendously over times.
The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial
According to Webster dictionary the word Happiness in defined as Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. People when they think of happiness, they think about having to good feeling inside. There are many types of happiness, which are expressed in many ways. Happiness is something that you can't just get it comes form your soul. Happiness is can be changed through many things that happen in our every day live.
Happiness is an inner state of well-being and fulfilment, and therefore it has to come from inside. Every individual has his or her own emotions and way of thinking and as a result of this no one can really say what happiness is and what happiness is not. However, universally, happiness is a by-product of a healthy attitude and viewpoint. Happiness exists in everyone whether they choose to acknowledge and believe it or not. It is not rare nor is it something only the elite have: everyone has it but not everyone recognizes it. Contentment is finding a light at the end of every dark tunnel and in order to experience this we must ignore the pessimism surrounding us and remind ourselves that happiness is not a materialistic object but a choice and frame of mind.