Happiness Interviews Transcript
Dawn Burkhert
HU300 – Arts and Humanities
Kaplan University
The first person I interviewed was my mom, Shirley. The reason I chose her is because she is 83 years old and raised seven kids during the early part of the Cold War. She has been married twice, she been broke then been comfortable but not wealthy, and she has seen her share of health problems. For my second interview, I chose a new co-worker named Doug. He is a 21 year old, homosexual, single father. While he does work to pay bills, he grew up in a family with money and usually gets what he asks for. He has never experienced a traumatic event such as a death in the family, serious health conditions, or hard financial times. He is
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I get what I want because if I’m unhappy, nobody’s happy.
Question: Have you always been that greedy about your happiness?
Response: Yeah, pretty much.
Question: Don’t you think everyone has the right to be happy?
Response: Sure, as long as it doesn’t affect me.
(D. Pittman, personal communication, March 26, 2012)
Happiness Analyzed
Dawn Burkhert
HU300 – Arts and Humanities
Kaplan University
In The Art of Being Human, Aristippus defined happiness as the sum of total pleasures experienced during one’s lifetime. However, after interviewing two totally different people, reading Chapter 7 in The Art of Being Human, and analyzing my own thoughts about happiness, I do not believe Aristippus’ definition to be accurate. To some, it’s about raising a family and enjoying life’s little moments, to others it’s about personal happiness at any cost, and to a few it is about doing good deeds for other people. Happiness can be fleeting or ever-lasting, can be spiritually influenced or materialistic. For every person, happiness takes on a different meaning. During the first interview with my 83 year old mom, Shirley, family was a key ingredient to her happiness. She was raised to believe in marriage and large families, as well as never putting herself first. Her happiness lies within knowing that she is making her family happy and spending time with her loved ones. She never asks for much, but always gives more than anyone could ever ask. Acts of such
Therefore, happiness for Aristippus is the result of the pleasures of
Happiness, an elusive eight letter word with a mighty punch! Many have sought to define happiness, but found it a difficult task to do. While reading an article published in the New Yorker by Will Sorr on July 07, 2017 titled “A Better Kind of Happiness”, I was informed that happiness is more than just a word, happiness is essential to the well-being of human health. Dating back nearly two and half million years ago an ancient Greek Philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, proposed the idea of eudaemonic happiness. He stated that “happiness was not merely a feeling, or a golden promise, but a
The name of the interviewee is Matt Gunnell. He is a manager at the Jefferson City Apothecary. He has been instrumental to manufacturing medicine a playing a vital role in keeping the people of the Jefferson City community healthy and strong. I decided to choose Matt because he is a laid back and amazing individual who is very positive about life and encourage others to thrive and find their talent to make the world a better place. He also has a strong passion for his job and his role in ensuring the wellness of our citizens in this community. Also, I picked the Apothecary because of the vital role they to ensure our society have access to the medicine they need to stay healthy. It is one of the very few pharmaceutical businesses in town. It also offer pocket friendly prescriptions for some citizens that had to pay out of pocket.
I interviewed my wife, Jael Dimich. I choose her because she left a high paying job to go back to school to become a nurse. She wanted to become a nurse after traveling for three months in Argentina and realizing there are people that continue to be suppressed by their economic background and social opportunities. That experience inspired in her the desire to help people in her career.
Aristotle believes that happiness is an activity “in accord with virtue.” Happiness is in accord with the most excellent virtue. All men agreed that happiness is to “live well”, but Aristotle expands this further into a whole
For my Human Resources perspective I interviewed Judie Crudo the Human Resource Director for St. Anthony Foundation (St. Anthony’s). She has been with the organization in that capacity for 25 years. Being a native San Franciscan being offered a position with St. Anthony’s was a calling to her, “working for the best” is what she wanted to do and felt St. Anthony’s really offered that opportunity. Prior to working at St. Anthony’s, she was worked in Human Resources for Macy’s and a small startup company.
This paper will focus on Aristotle’s claim that happiness is an activity and not just a momentary pleasure. Skeptics claim happiness is a state of mind and Aristotle is wrong to claim that happiness is an ongoing pursuit a person must actively strive for during one’s life. This paper argues that Aristotle is correct when he states that happiness is an activity, the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself that individuals strive for throughout the entirety of their lifetime and ultimately attain rather than a feeling a person experiences at any given moment. First, Aristotle’s view of happiness will be explained and then I will present objections to Aristotle’s claim that happiness is an activity. Lastly, I will address the
The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density
The definition of happiness has long been disputed. According to Aristotle, happiness is the highest good and the ultimate end goal—for it is self-reliant. This idea contradicted other common beliefs and philosophical theories. Aristotle opens his work by describing the various theories, neutrally examines each idea, and discloses how he thinks the theory is wrong and why his idea of happiness is more accurate.
Happiness is not a strange term to us. We usually use that word to express our feelings in every day. Additionally, more than a word, “happiness” is what we really need and always seek in life. However, finding and understanding deeply its meaning is not easy. The online dictionary, “vocabulary.com” defines, “Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness.” Thus, we always wonder if we are happy or how could we be happier in our life. Happiness, therefore, becomes a goal for everybody.
There are many theories surrounding happiness, and the pursuit of happiness. Some believe that an external force must be present to bring about happiness, while others argue that happiness is individualized, and is completely up to a person's internal mindset of whether he or she is able to achieve and maintain happiness. Aristotle, a significant ancient Greek philosopher, believes that happiness requires an action. He affirms that there are many factors that play into someone's happiness; including materialistic things, which help support this state of being. His claim is that happiness is a holistic approach to life and must be achieved by living virtuously with moral character. Aristotle also indicates that happiness is not a moment in time, but rather a journey of exploration by way of living harmoniously, through a pursuit of achieving life’s goals and desires. He adds that a life of happiness is driven by virtue and emotions, which all play a role in achieving optimum happiness.
Happiness is the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. All action is goal oriented and the goal of every action, is to reach happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness is “living well
According to the philosophy of happiness (14, 15, 16 & 17), Aristotle stated the factors that make happiness as good health, money, relationships and good moral behavior. Aristotle pointed out that happiness was the ultimate desire for human being leaving nothing more to be desired. The happiness is sought for its own sake unlike other things which are sought in order to achieve happiness. Aristotle understood that for an individual to be happy one must be of good morals and can suffer to achieve the greater happiness later in the long run. Many individuals believe that
Happiness is the fundamental objective of life. This bold statement is unanimously agreed upon among generations of people on every corner of our planet. However, the real question that has been contested for centuries is the true meaning of happiness? The true meaning of happiness is one of the most highly debated philosophy topics in history. Most famous are the writings of Aristotle and John Stuart Mill who both paint very opposing pictures of happiness. Mill believes happiness is obtained through pleasure and the absence of pain. On the other hand, Aristotle insist happiness is obtained through living a fulfilling, virtuous life. This passage will examine Aristotle 's and Mill 's views on happiness as well as give an opinion one which philosophical theory is most convincing.
It is human nature to want and desire certain things out of life. For the most part, people want the same things. No one is the same as anyone else but we all share the fact that we want to make our lives as good as we possibly can. There are many ways to achieve happiness and everything that is wanted out of life can make you happy. Whatever a person’s truest desire may be, if they obtain that desire they obtain happiness. All that is desired falls under “What will make you happy in life?” We long to be happy, but what gets us there?