How Does Jeremy Bentham Define Happiness

Happiness and Pleasure

The way we live our lives has been questioned by many scholars. Jeremy Bentham and Aristotle questioned pleasure and happiness. They both came up with similar and different conclusions. Jeremy Bentham had a utilitarian approach approach that stated that happiness is pleasure with absence of pain. Aristotle believed that happiness can be achieved by living in accordance to reason. My views on happiness and pleasure are similar to the two philosophers, I believe that happiness is the highest of all goals in a human life and can be achieved at the end of a lifetime, while the rest are only momentarily pleasures that build up to the bigger picture.

According to Jeremy Bentham, morality is based on pain and pleasure.

It is ultimately the highest end goal in my life. People are born, they rise and live but ultimately grow old and wither away into nothingness. We all have a limited time in the life we have, for we don't know if there ever will be an afterlife. In this limited life we have, the way we live it matters the most because we only have one chance. Happiness comes into play, everything I do is for achieving happiness. Pleasure on the other hand, is the activities that lead to happiness. Enjoying the the view of a magnificent landscape, spending an evening with close friends, kissing your significant other, the scent of a fresh summer day, are all pleasurable activities that in the end lead to happiness. However, pleasure is dependent on circumstances, it is inconsistent and comes and goes. It is motivated externally and is a fleeting moment, while happiness is generated internally and is constant. Happiness is the end result of all pleasures. The more we do something we find pleasurable the happier we will end up being. Therefore, there exists an cause and effect relationship between pleasure and happiness. Happiness is the effect that is derived from a cause that is pleasure. Happiness for me is only derived from non materialistic pleasures. Materialistic objects like, cars, phones, clothes etc, only give pleasure that provide temporary satisfaction. People then fall in love with objects and without them are not able to find any

Aristotle had his own views and so did Jeremy Bentham. Aristotle had a view of a supreme good, which was happiness. It was the end goal of everyones life and was only achievable at the end and never temporarily. Bentham believed in his theory of utility that stated that actions or behaviours are right if they promote happiness or pleasure, and are wrong if they produce unhappiness or pain, all in accordance to the community. Happiness can be achieved anytime through having action be more pleasurable than it causes pain. For some people pleasure and happiness exist simultaneously for others pleasure leads up to the happiness. Happiness and pleasure is therefore dependent on the views of