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An essay about happiness
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Socrates: Hello, my name is Socrates. I was a classical Greek philosopher who is known as the founder of western philosophy. I was born around 470 BC in the Athens and died about the age of 71 in 399 BC. My main interests are in epistemology and ethics, I was Plato’s teacher and most of my discussions are shown through Plato's dialogues. Moving on, today’s topic is about happiness. What is happiness? What does it mean to be truly happy? How does one achieve happiness? And many more questions about the topic happiness that will be answered today by the philosophers Aristotle and John Stuart Mill. Lets start with Aristotle, please introduce yourself.
Aristotle: Hello, my name is Aristotle and I am here to speak about my perspective on what
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I believe that happiness this the end goal for every human being. Everything that is worked for and achieved in one's life such as pursuing a good education, wealth, career success, good family and friends and good health altogether makes up happiness, the ultimate end goal. Something that lasts a few moments and gives one pleasure within that time is not happiness, happiness lasts a lifetime not a day or so. Pleasure is different in the sense that, it is not worked for, someone telling one joke will give that person hearing the joke pleasure, but happiness is a long-term goal that ensures that one has succeeded in life and reached his/her potential. I also believe that, this is the very thing that can stop someone from achieving happiness. When one believes that the pleasure they feel on a hot sunny day or when they are having a good time to be happiness, it takes them away from their goals, blinding them from achieving true happiness.Many view happiness with a subjective state of mind but the truth is that happiness is the same for all, it is everyone's end goal. No one can truly achieve happiness until their lives are over and they have succeeded and are satisfied with reaching their goals. Instant gratification comes with long-term pain, to explain this further, pleasure is a short term feeling that differs from happiness and will bring pain along with it. Since happiness cannot be achieved until one has passed over, it is a goal not a temporary …show more content…
Happiness is based off of morality and it is a desire that everyone uses as the main goal in life. All the other desires such as wealth, good health, good friends and family, etc. that people have lead up to the one desire which is happiness.
Socrates: Interesting, you also believe that happiness is the foundation of justice correct?
John: Yes I do believe that happiness is the foundation of justice.
Socrates: Why is that ? What makes you believe that happiness is the reason to why justice exists ?
John: Well to answer your question, I stated before that happiness is based off of morality, one's actions to make the right decisions which becomes the foundation of justice. The sentiment of justice is actually based on utility, which is happiness. When one makes decisions based off of their morals and try to do the right thing, justice is created. When making choices that would lead one to happiness, it also leads that person to make peaceful acts. Therefore, happiness is the foundation of justice.
Socrates: Well thank you for sharing your views on the topic of happiness. While I think you and Aristotle did a great job expressing your opinions and it makes a great lessons, I do however believe that one cannot truly know the mean of
Humans, throughout recorded history, have searched for a proper way of living which would lead them to ultimate happiness; the Nicomachean Ethics, a compilation of lecture notes on the subject written by Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most celebrated philosophical works dedicated to this study of the way. As he describes it, happiness can only be achieved by acting in conformity with virtues, virtues being established by a particular culture’s ideal person operating at their top capacity. In our current society the duplicity of standards in relation to virtue makes it difficult for anyone to attain. To discover true happiness, man must first discover himself.
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.
In conclusion, Aristotle’s elucidation of happiness is based on a ground of ethics because happiness to him is coveted for happiness alone. The life of fame and fortune is not the life for Aristotle. Happiness is synonymous for living well. To live well is to live with virtue. Virtue presents humans with identification for morals, and for Aristotle, we choose to have “right” morals. Aristotle defines humans by nature to be dishonored when making a wrong decision. Thus, if one choses to act upon pleasure, like John Stuart Mill states, for happiness, one may choose the wrong means of doing so. Happiness is a choice made rationally among many pickings to reach this state of mind. Happiness should not be a way to “win” in the end but a way to develop a well-behaved, principled reputation.
Ashley Janowiak Human Happiness and External goods Happiness is a goal every human pursues, yet the ways in which it is pursued differs amongst people. Some believe prosperity will bring them happiness. Others believe material, power, fame, success, or love will bring them happiness. No matter what one believes is the right way to conquer this goal, every person will take their own unique path in an attempt to find it. But what is happiness like?
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).
Most people think that the highest end is a life of pleasure. Hedonists have defined happiness as " an equivalent to the totality of pleasurable or agreeable feeling.';(Fox, 3) Some pleasures are good and contribute to happiness. Not all ends are ultimate ends but the highest end would have to be something ultimate; the only conceivable ultimate end is happiness.
To find where this happiness comes from, Aristotle explored nature through biology. Based off the Stanford Encyclopedia for Philosophy and a website called The Pursuit of Happiness that talks about the history of Aristotle, he knew that what would ultimately make humans happy would have to...
Aristotle once stated that, “But if happiness be the exercise of virtue, it is reasonable to suppose that it will be the exercise of the highest virtue; and that will be the virtue or excellence of the best part of us.” (481) It is through Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics that we are able to gain insight into ancient Greece’s moral and ethical thoughts. Aristotle argues his theory on what happiness and virtue are and how man should achieve them.
According to the Webster dictionary, the word happiness is defined as enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. When people think of happiness, they think about having a 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 from your soul. Happiness can be changed through many things that happen in our everyday lives.
Happiness is something most humans value above everything else. The various things in life that make us happy, such as family, friends, and cool cars, to name a few, are the very things we hold dearest to us and place the most value on. People fill their lives with things that please them to ease the gloom that comes as a result of the seemingly never-ending trials and tribulations of life. We gladly accept any amount of pleasure we can extract from the monotony of our daily lives, and we will do almost anything to achieve happiness.
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.
Happiness can be understood as the moral goal of life or can be unpredictable and is something we create from ourselves and by ourselves. The idea of happiness was known as something we nurture on our own and is a state of emotion. Completing our everyday goals will soon bring us happiness, which seems to be very important to most humans and is what makes life worth living, but this is not certain. This conception of Eudemonia was common in ancient Greece as it is currently today. Aristotle had what he thought was an ideal activity for all those who wanted to live life to the fullest, be happy, and have purpose.
Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.
Happiness can be viewed as wealth, honour, pleasure, or virtue. Aristotle believes that wealth is not happiness, because wealth is just an economic value, but can be used to gain some happiness; wealth is a means to further ends. The good life, according to Aristotle, is an end in itself. Similar to wealth, honour is not happiness because honour emphases on the individuals who honour in comparison to the honouree. Honour is external, but happiness is not. It has to do with how people perceive one another; the good life is intrinsic to the...
I believe that happiness is the key to living a good and prosperous life. Through all of the sadness and hate in the world, happiness gives me hope. It gives not only me, but others hope and joy. Happiness gives us something to hold onto, therefore we cherish it as much as we can.