Socrates Theory Of Happiness

Philosophy has long been known as the study of how subjects such as knowledge, existence, and happiness work, and thus, philosophy has been a topic of much debate in the history of civilization because people have different ideas on how these subjects work . One subject that has received much discussion is happiness. While most people believe that material goods such as jewelry, money, or clothes contribute to happiness, Socrates, a Greek philosopher, offers a different approach to the goal of happiness that will surely lead people to question their own beliefs about happiness. Although there have been many discussions on what leads to happiness, Socrates offers an unique theory about happiness. Socrates says that philosophers lead the happiest …show more content…
Wisdom is defined as the ability to think and use knowledge, experience, and insight. Wisdom is considered to always be beneficial because it makes its possessor happy, and thus wisdom is considered to be a good quality for a man to have. Socrates believes wisdom and virtue to be connected because through wisdom one can learn virtue, and he defined virtue as the knowledge of knowing what is good and evil (Dimas). Plato, a Greek philosopher who started off as a student of Socrates, wrote a dialogue based on Socrates’s teaching called Meno. In Meno, Socrates claims that wisdom consists with virtue and that virtue is the only quality of the soul that is useful. Panos Dimas, a professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo, summarizes Socrates’s theory in his essay, “Happiness in the Euthydemus”, by saying, “The only good thing is virtue, and since a good thing makes its possessors happy, only wisdom makes us happy.” To get a better understanding of Socrates’s views on happiness, one must know what Socrates deems to be unhappy. Socrates believes that ignorance, the lack of wisdom, leads to unhappiness. Therefore, nothing else is bad apart from ignorance. But what about power, wealth, and material goods? Socrates says these “goods” are useless by themselves, but if used by someone with wisdom, they can be beneficial and can make someone more happy (Dimas). But if someone who is ignorant were to use these goods, they …show more content…
Aquinas served as a Catholic priest during 13th century and devoted his life to finding the key to happiness. The author, Richard Regan, translates Thomas Aquinas beliefs in the book Virtue: Way to Happiness and makes it clear that Aquinas believed that true happiness can only be found in knowledge of God. Aquinas thought that humans could achieve short term satisfaction on Earth but ultimately had a “longing” desire that could not be fulfilled by artificial goods (Regan 19). Also, Aquinas believed the ultimate desire of humans is perfection which can only be found in God. He stated that in order to have knowledge of God one must see God directly, and this is only achievable by having a completely purified soul (Regan 18). Although Aquinas does much to connect God with happiness, there are many problems with this idea. The first problem with his belief is that Aquinas never defines what a completely purified soul consists of. This lack of a definition about what the completely purified soul consists in results in much doubt about his belief. The second problem with Aquinas’s idea is the idea of a Supreme Being. Many people do not believe in God and would never achieve this state of perfect happiness because they would never be able to see God directly. Also, Socrates and Aristotle both agreed that only humans could determine the happiness in their lives and that God had no interest