Kant's Pursuit Of Happiness

Intro:
It is safe to say that every human being in the world wants to be happy. Humans crave the feeling of happiness. Sometimes happiness clouds decision making and causes people to make choices that aren’t the best for other people around them but satisfy their needs, which is quite selfish. People can make decisions based on happiness rather than what is morally right. This can cause many issues because if everyone just does things that make them happy, the world would be filled with corruption and poverty. If everyone based his or her actions off what was morally right, the world would be less corrupted and more peaceful. Good will is the highest good because in the end the people that act only on their good will will deserve happiness. …show more content…
If everyone tries to be the best they can possibly be they are more likely to run into opportunities that will help them succeed. Aristotle thought that a human should always strive to be do the “right thing.” This right thing might not bring you immediate happiness, it could bring you pain or you might have to sacrifice something that is important to you but as long as you do the right thing you deserve happiness. Sometimes you might not receive happiness but doing the right thing is better than doing something to just receive happiness is considered selfish. Kant believed that you have to over come your desires and Kant believed that happiness couldn’t be the highest good because it has to be a combination of happiness and moral freedom in order to be the highest good. The way that Kant believed to figure if an action is morally okay is to use the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative is central philosophical concept in which can be used to evaluate actions. Basically it states that a person should only do a certain action if they can universalize it and it can be made into a law. If they universalize it and it is contradictory to itself then maybe this act is not a good idea to do. Kant believed that actions are morally correct if these actions come from virtues that motivate these actions. Whereas Aristotle believed that you should do anything in your power to be happy. This means that as long as you are happy that is the highest good, even if you have to do something illegal it doesn’t matter because in the end you are happy and that’s all that matters. Aristotle’s point of view is quite selfish because it only talks about your own happiness. You don’t take other peoples feelings inconsideration when making decisions, you just do what is best for you. This way of thinking is very problematic