What is happiness? People have agonized over this question for centuries. Let me start this essay by answering a somewhat easier question: what isn’t happiness? Happiness is NOT feeling good all the time. Happiness is a combination of human emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come.
In an unofficial poll of students at State University, I found that of the fifty-eight students and one professor, males and females of several ethnic backgrounds and age groups, that I asked the question "What is happiness to you?", all of them had very different physical, intellectual, or emotional motivator for their happiness. Only the
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But these supplementary explanations do not affect the theory of life on which this theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain. (Pojman 917)
Mill seems to think that happiness comes from the desire to be completely pain-free.
He says that happiness comes from selfishly fulfilled desires. The desire to attain only pleasure is ludicrous; for a person to achieve a completely pain-free existence is impossible. To gain complete happiness would leave them with no motivation to achieve anything else. Human nature is such that if a person achieved pure happiness, that person would then become dissatisfied with that happiness, causing them to, once again, be unhappy. A person will always experience something contrary to pleasure, leaving them with some type of pain.
In my opinion, people seem to be happy for many different reasons at different times in their lives. I
As human beings we are very diverse. We vary from numerous backgrounds, ethnicities, morals, and cultures. However, as much as we are unique, we all share one common goal in life. Everyone has a desire for happiness. I found that throughout my daily life I based my decision off of what would make me happy, whether it was for a long or short period of time. Often happiness is associated with successfulness and achievement. Though, like the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, happiness can be found in different ways by different people. This along with reading The Driest Season by Meghan Kenny, is what influenced me to want to find out more about happiness, if it is truly attainable, and how people achieve it.
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
Happiness is something that all people, no matter what race, gender, or social class, strive for. Based on lifestyle or perspective each person has their independent idea of what happiness is, but everyone shares an end goal to live their definition of a happy life. Many people, though, struggle in finding their way to this goal. They face hardships and challenges that test their happiness every day. Happiness, though somewhat indirectly, does take learning and training to discover and maintain.
People travel through life with what seems like a single goal: to be happy. This may seem like a selfish way to live, however this lone objective is the motivation behind nearly all actions. Even seemingly selfless deeds make people feel better about themselves. That warm feeling experienced while doing charitable acts can be described as happiness. But what is authentic happiness? There is an endless possibility of answers to this question, and man seems to be always searching for the solution. Although one may reach his or her goals, there is always still something one strives for in order to be happy. In the book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert takes the reader through
No matter how happy people are there is always something that would make them happier.
Happiness: a Human Disease -- An Examination of the Allegorical Theme of Existentialism in the Happy Man
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.
For many people happiness has a different definition. Through this whole essay, I am going to be defining what happiness means to me and what it could also mean to others. Therefore to start off, we must first know what happiness means. The general definition of happiness means the state of feeling happy,or a pleasurable/satisfying experience. Now that both of us know what it means to be happy, we can now go past the simple material and move more into the detailed and deep meaning of what happiness could mean.
I started to question about happiness in America after I saw a pattern in high school that students are often confused or stressed. I started out with the question, “why is it hard to be happy when being happy shouldn’t be that hard?” To answer these questions, I found Sophie Chan’s 2011 study, “Hong Kong Chinese community leaders’ perspectives on family health, happiness and harmony: a qualitative study.” This study would help answer questions on my audience’s curiosity about other countries happiness compared to the United States. Then I started to think that there were also other issues that friction with happiness in America and
In times of the woeful and disappointing situation, people find it not easy to change it too positive and happy situation. What is the true meaning of happiness? This question has puzzled the people around the world. According to psychology happiness is feeling characterized by love, contentment, pleasure, joy, or satisfaction. Happiness is not only because the good things that happened in people lives but also when someone are the cause of these events. Some people my claim that the human do not have the ability to change the situation from negative to positive. However, it is argued that the happiness is something that the humans have on control.
In my opinion, happiness is something that will make you happy for a long period of
Happiness can often be defined as joyousness, glee, delight, or any other feeling pleasure; however, these experiences are not true happiness. Rather than just an instantaneous, manic feeling, such as joy, true happiness resembles something closer to satisfaction. This meaning of satisfaction is not pleasure, but, instead, means contentment with one’s whole situation in life.
Happiness can come in a wide variety of things. Different things make different people happy. Seeing a cute dog can make me happy for a moment. Do we long to be happy one day at a time or are we longing to know we will never be sad? Assume every person on the planet has had their happy moments, there is always a deterrent. Always the next moment that can be taken in any direction and if you have experienced emotions then it is known. People may long to be happy but. I think no one can ever be one hundred percent happy for their whole life, but I think people can be content. There will always be moments that are not happy moments but there will always be another moment that can bring joy. I believe you can be happy with your life, even with those moments of other emotion. One of the main things that I want in life is happiness. What can make me happy are many different things. I long for happiness, and in that longing many things that have the
Happiness can be describe in many ways. For some they would say spending time with their loved ones, having a good relationship, having a good job, being able to live in luxury, being able to buy all their needs, having a good meal, being healthy, having enough money being free from debts and stress. These are only some of the reasons
Happiness is a state of mind, defined by positive and pleasant influences and emotions that one experiences in life. Happiness is not one exact emotion like contentment or joy. It is more of a scale that ranges between these two emotions. In simple words, a person who is content with life, may not necessarily be happy. Neither