Happiness Vs Happiness

What is true happiness? What are its causes and conditions? Is it merely a state of feeling overjoyed or pleasured? What relationship exists between happiness and a meaningful life? Such questions have been debated time and time again throughout history. Philosophers of many different backgrounds and beliefs have studied immensely in an attempt to find the answers. Aristotle and John Stuart Mill are two great philosophers who each came up with different definitions of happiness and how one obtains it. While both of these philosophers had similar ideas about the definitions of happiness, they each had different theories on what constitutes happiness and what it means to be truly happy. Aristotle is known as one of the founding fathers of Western philosophy. He was a Greek philosopher who studied a wide range of subjects, including ethics. In one of his greatest works, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle deeply

Some take it to be one thing, others another. Indeed, the same person often changes his mind; for when he has fallen ill, he thinks happiness is health, and when he has fallen into poverty, he thinks it is wealth" (Nicomachean Ethics 1095a). This holds true even today, because everyone will always have their own idea of what it is that brings them happiness. Moreover, it seems that it is of human nature to always want what one cannot have. We are always looking for something more to bring us happiness. Will obtaining more wealth and material things or accomplishing goals satisfy that need? Do these things equate to happiness? It truly depends on the individual. Often, we do formulate ideas of what can contribute to our happiness. However, it is not until something happens, like getting sick or losing a loved one that we realize many of the things that bring us happiness aren 't nearly as important as we thought they