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John stuart mill on happiness
Aristotle's view on happiness
John stuart mill on happiness
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Happiness is something humans have been pursuing for centuries. The quest for happiness is so cemented in the minds of human beings that it has been used as a method of control, and as a weapon against others. Humans are moths, ever drawn to the distant flame of joy. Over the past year I have learned much about this pursuit that has plagued humans for millennia. Pieces of literature like The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men and The Devil and Tom Walker all explore this pursuit in unique and diverse ways.
A professor of history at Florida State , Darrin M. McMahon, in his New York Times article, “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”, (11-29-2005) he persuades that happiness is a relentless desire to achieve if you find it on your own. the article written by McMahon he quotes that ”Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness..”. He uses evidence to support his claim by using philosophers John Stuart mill and Carlyle quotes to prove that they all have similar views on how to achieve being happy and be cheerful. It's better to do something that makes you carefree rather than waiting for happiness to come “knocking at your door” as if you gain contentment as pure luck. Sometimes it is better to be bliss
And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose” (Rand 111).
In “Authenticity and the Pursuit of Happiness,” psychotherapist, novelist, and educator Frank Rubenfeld examines the discipline of happiness acquisition. As of now all through the globe, numerous millions are compelled to hold fast to a custom, a specific religion, or an explicit belief system, as opposed to seek happiness. Asserting that our entitlement to pursue happiness is unalienable, and need not be earned or granted, remains a radical proclamation. In it, the author every now and again drew upon our Declaration of Independence, which expresses that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (1776). These words have echoed with Americans and others ever since, accurately epitomizing the spirit of a nation where individuals are free to fulfill their full potential.
In his article "In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living from Plato to Prozac," Mark Kingwell describes how there has been many debates on the meaning of happiness for many years yet still a singular, justifiable definition eludes society. The pursuit to define and understand happiness has invited several debates, questions, arguments, and suggestions alike. In 1996, a hand full of genetic and behavioral studies suggest evidence that one’s achievable degree of happiness is genetically decided, with evidences showing that no achievement will change your happiness, you are either happy or you’re not. Some studies demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of personal satisfaction, while others indicated that
The pursuit of happiness is defined as “the fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy.” The ability to find happiness is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States, yet many countries do not possess the same rights as America and instead are plagued by corruption. Procuring contentment is a difficult journey for all people, but those who do not have access to knowledge will find it to be a much more daunting task. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s struggle to find joy under an oppressive regime required him to challenge his knowledge in a way he never truly had before. Happiness is analyzed constantly in the real world as well, and the philosophers and scientists who study it consistently link it to knowledge, as shown in the articles by Main, Socrates and in the article about Individualism.
Happiness & McCandless Happiness has been often mistaken for another emotion while in reality it comes from the translated form of the greek concept of eudaimonia which means flourishing, or literally translated to “good spirit”. With the concept of happiness clarified to an abstraction of fulfilment, or acceptance in life, rather than just a term used for a feeling of elation, it becomes a more open ended discussion piece due to the questions one could ask. What constitutes happiness? Can you achieve true happiness if it is an abstract concept? An interesting point of view of happiness comes from the literary works of american romanticism from eighteen twenty to eighteen sixty with Thoreau, and a later person who held the ideals of the romantics, Christopher McCandless, the two of which I will compare with my own idea of happiness.
According to Aristotle, an individual can achieve happiness only by realizing all the works and activities in accordance with reason throughout his lifetime. He claimed that happiness consists in cultivating and exercising virtue and it is the ultimate purpose of human existence, as stated in his work Nicomachean Ethics “He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life”. However, such Aristotelian concept of happiness inevitably contradicts the understanding of history as development which maintains that fulfilling the work of human exceeds the limits of an individual and thus can only be achieved in the course of history. Three
Happyness Angel Gonzalez Happiness is a state of mind that is pursued by almost everyone. People strive to be happy in their lives, whether it is through achieving success in their careers or relationships, or simply enjoying the small pleasures in life. However, the pursuit of happiness is not easy. It requires perseverance, hard work, and even luck. In this essay To support the idea that happiness is a complex and subjective emotion influenced by various factors, we can quote Chris Gardner who said, "It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the concept of happiness is introduced as the ultimate good one can achieve in life as well as the ultimate goal of human existence. As Aristotle goes on to further define happiness, one can see that his concept is much different from the 21st-century view. Aristotelian happiness can be achieved through choosing to live the contemplative life, which would naturally encompass moralistic virtue. This differs significantly from the modern view of happiness, which is heavily reliant on material goods. To a person in the 21st-century, happiness is simply an emotional byproduct one experiences as a result of acquiring material goods.
Many classical philosophers have given their voice to the nature of human life and what entails its climax. The very nature of human beings has been investigated, broadly, to establish a comprehensive understanding often pegged on morality. Yet, such thoughts have prompted diverse viewpoints with accompanying grounds or reasons. Happiness is an unending topic of discussion in philosophy. This paper explores the similarities and differences in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism to coin a position in whether or not happiness is the ultimate end that human society aspires to acquire.
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi said this in the early 1800s and still is echoing throughout history; fuelling the human’s search for the meaning of “happiness’. Humans made it simple, many of them use the term interchangeably with “subjective well-being,” which they measure by simply asking people to report how satisfied they feel with their own lives and how much positive and negative emotion they’re experiencing thus “subjective” , but is it truly? Throughout the century, human’s definition for the word “happiness” became augmented, mixed or even redefined by our early philosophers, but still our late predecessors, for example Gandhi, will forever influence this idea, why?
People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the
Life is complicated and everyone goes through stress no matter who you are and what you do some things will catch you off garde in life. Yet not matter what you should never let the challenges of life consume you or interfere with your life goals. The pursuit of happiness was directed by Gabriele Muccino this movie depicts the real life events of of Chris Gardner and the struggles he went through in life to pursue happiness. In my essay I will be talk about how Chris work hard to pursue his dream jobs also how his stress affected his identity and how without stress u can not find happiness. Viewers need to understand that when a person is in a stressful situation they need to reflect on their identity and their values because they need to
At the end of everyone’s lives, the goal appears to be about attaining happiness. Describing how to obtain happiness has been an issue that was debated in the past but is still talked about now . In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle expands on his view of happiness and he focuses particularly on how reason helps recognize and pursue what will lead to happiness and the good life. I feel that Aristotle’s philosophies on happiness are important works within the field of philosophy and he considered one of the………of it . In this paper, I will explore Aristotle’s beliefs regarding happiness then compare and contrast them to those of Martin Seligman.