However, there will never be a universal explanation as to what success and happiness are because it’s different for every person. In order for someone to feel successful, one must learn how both happiness and success work together. People need to get over the idea of succeeding and achieving goals in order to be content and focus more on being happy with themselves. In “Happiness and Success”, Laura Huckabee-Jennings explains how achieving success and materialistic possessions have nothing to do with happiness. People may be able to accomplish a goal and be successful, they become happy, but that is not happiness.
In this paper I will discuss Aristotle’s claim that happiness is a kind of activity and not a momentary pleasure. Some people might worry that Aristotle is wrong in making this claim by presuming that happiness is a state of mind rather than a constant pursuit in which a person must actively strive for throughout the entirety of ones life. I will argue that Aristotle is correct when he declares that happiness is a kind of activity that we strive for and ultimately attain throughout the entirety of our lives rather than just a feeling or state that we happen to have at any given moment. First I will explain Aristotle’s view on happiness and then I will offer some objections to Aristotle’s claim that happiness is an activity. Finally, I will respond to these objections in order to defend Aristotle’s position that happiness is found in pursuing virtuous activity and engaging in activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.
If you look around in society you see people pursuing things they enjoy for pleasure good will achievement wisdoms and so on. But while each thing mentioned as substance is it the ultimate thing to be achieved Aristotle says ok we enjoy money pleasure and material things but why? Because they make us happy therefore happiness must be the ultimate goal to a successful fulfilled life. The Greek word for “happiness” is eudemonia, but to me this word gets lost in translation for American’s happiness is a state of mind happiness is winning the lotto or finding out you got that promotion at work for A... ... middle of paper ... ... to each person’s individual personality traits and flaws,” Aristotle says that some people are born with weaker wills than other it may actually be a mean to run away in a fight In conclusion, according to Aristotle what is happiness? Happiness is the ultimate purpose of existence, it’s not a pleasure or a virtue is the practice of virtue.
What is happiness? Our society has defined happiness as a thought of a good life, freedom from suffering, flourishing, well being, joy, prosperity, and pleasure. But what would happen if none of these things existed, what would happiness be then? After I gave it some thought I came to realize our society has made happiness a place. However, I’ve found that my happiness is not some place you can find.
Happiness is a major concern for human beings, and it comes as no surprise that history has yielded many explorations as to what happiness is, and how it can be achieved. These explorations of happiness can be traced back to the philosophical inquiries of classical times, to today’s psychological studies on happiness. While happiness itself is generally difficult to precisely define, the operational definition of happiness relates to what is known as subjective well-being (SWB). In psychological studies, it has been determined that individuals are best suited to assess their own happiness, hence the primacy of SWB. This is in contrast with previous notions of happiness that tie happiness to virtue or any other objective notion of happiness.
The greatest comfort that people may have is knowing that there is no higher form of happiness, and by refusing to pursue it, they acquire a deeper understanding and contentment of themselves. Happiness cannot be eternally defined, because the idea of what happiness is would change with the ideas of people. It may not be possible to ever truly understand what happiness really is, or if there is some higher form of happiness. If there is a higher idea of happiness, then this is what all people are striving for, but failing because it is impossible to reach the idea of happiness, just the representation of the idea of happiness. Whether or not happiness can be achieved or pursued, it is the attempt to understand more about happiness that brings the idea of happiness closer to possibility.
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores virtues as necessary conditions for being happy. According to Aristotle the ‘best good’, happiness, is something that is complete and self-sufficient. Something is considered to be self-sufficient when through itself it creates a choice worthy, abundant life. Every other human action has some end; these ends are categorized as some type of good, either instrumental or non-instrumental. Instrumental goods, are goods that are not chosen for their own sake, but rather, for the sake of others.
Modern theories of self-esteem established the idea of believing one’s abilities and worth or value. It is the extent to which one likes, accepts, and respects oneself (Masters & Wallace, 2011). Likewise, life is only genuinely satisfying if one is able to discover the value within. One of the most superlative ways of discovering this value is through nourishing strengths with the goal of contributing to the happiness of others. The concluding stage which is meaningful life pertains to the deep sense of fulfillment by employing the strengths not only for oneself.
Aristotle’s Theory of Virtue and Happiness Aristotle emphasizes that happiness as the main purpose of human life and it is the main goal in human life itself. He questions what is the main purpose of human existence without happiness and what is the end goal of all our activities we do in our life? He developed and devoted the topic of happiness more than any thinker in philosophy prior. Aristotle believed that a happy life required the fulfillment that includes a good state of physical and mental well-being. Aristotle’s term for happiness is eudaemonia, which translates closer to “well-being” or “flourishing”.
Nowadays happiness is something everybody wants to achieve but has different views on what elements happiness should consist of. Happiness satisfies all the desires and does not have any evil in it and it is, therefore, stable. In one of his many theories, Aristotle mentions a life full of pleasure and comfort, a life characterized by money making, a philosophical life and a life of action as not being the ways to happiness. Aristotle had his own idea about