Next, I plan to identify Aristotle’s core values for happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness comes from virtue, whereas Mill believes happiness comes from pleasure and the absence of pain. Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior which are driven by virtues - good traits of character. Thus, Aristotle focuses on three things, which I will outline in order to answer the question, “what does it mean to live a good life?” The first of which is the number one good in life is happiness. Secondly, there is a difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues and lastly, leading a good life is a state of character.
Happiness has three dimensions namely the pleasant life, the good life, and the meaningful life. The pleasant life is achieved if an individual learns to appreciate and value the basic pleasures like companionship, the natural environment and bodily needs. The first dimension of Seligman regarding happiness is in contradiction of Veenhoven’s idea of happiness that it is not merely pleasure and stimulation of the basic senses. However, Seligman argued that an individual can evolve from this initial stage if he or she can experience the good life which is realized through discovering one’s set of values and strengths, and employing them productively to advance lives. Modern theories of self-esteem established the idea of believing one’s abilities and worth or value.
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Positive psychology refers to the strength and abilities that facilitate individuals and the societies to succeed. The arena of positive psychology is created on the trust that the people and the community will have meaningful and fulfilling lives that will facilitate them in being the best among themselves. This leads to better experiences of play, love, and work. It helps in achieving a satisfactory life that is more effective which is better than treating any mental illness. It focuses on the personal growth rather than the pathology.
Morally "right" actions are ones which promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number number of people and reduce pain. Utilitarian moral theories need to be coupled with theories of well-being, so that we can point to what is being maximized through the moral theory's operation. Mill's moral theory is no different. Three theories of well-being must be considered, one of which fits Mill's moral theory most appropriately. Experientialism, or hedonism, is a theory of well-being that advocates an unwavering pursuit of pleasure through desireable experiences.
The fundamental objective of Hedonistic Utilitarianism would be to maximize happiness while minimizing pain (Sober 416). Supported by philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, the theory of Utilitarianism has been criticized, reformed, and researched in order to view the different situations in which this theory may produce positive or negative outcomes. Although this moral theory, was established with positive intentions there have been ethical conflictions created by this theory. Such as the understanding that the hedonistic utilitarian moral theory maintains a very subjective motivation, destroys autonomy, and creates a false sense of self. One of those situational theories is the experience machine hypothesis.
Positive Psychology is the strengths and virtues a person or a community poses that lead to its optimal performance and allow it to thrive.This is a beneficial study that has the chance to improve the lives of many as well as preventing some negative situations. This review looks into what Positive Psychology is and how it impacts our lives. The sources I selected look into a broad overview of Positive Psychology, and it looks into deeper more specific aspects of Positive Psychology. This review has to lead me to believe that if we see ourselves and the future in a positive way it will have a positive effect on our lives. Lino (2017) clearly gave the definition of positive psychology and explained how it overall explained how it can impact our lives.
The idea of positive psychology reminds me a lot of the Recovery Model that I learned from another course. Instead of focusing on deficits, individuals are treated based on their strengths and ways to bring satisfaction and meaning to an individual’s life despite their disorder or condition. Thinking about the whole topic of positive psychology makes me what to implement this into whatever career I find myself in. This approach could be applied to behavioral techniques used to treat mental illness. If more people were aware of the power of concepts within positive psychology, I believe we could see a large impact in
We, as humans, simply wish to lead a good life, and the best component of a good life is achieving our desires and goals. However, I am not saying that we should wildly chase those desires. Indeed, it is important that we have a method for the acquisition of those pleasures which we will inevitably find ourselves working to achieve. For that reason, I adhere to the teachings of Machiavelli which are found in his work, The Prince, because his ideas are the best that were presented in the modern time of philosophy. I believe that by applying these principles, we can achieve a good life, because a good life is fulfilling our desires and creating a successful future for ourselves, and doing so orderly and properly.