Have We No Right to Happiness
Individuals usually look for companionship with the ultimate goal of living a life of happiness and fulfillment. With that goal in mind, couples and spouses are naturally inclined to making promises of heaven and earth or they promise that through whatever means suffice, they will fulfill each other’s desires. Nevertheless, those promises usually amount to nothing when the relationship is on the rocks. At that particular point the thought that creeps into one’s mind is that he or she reserves the right to be happy. The natural solution for them is usually finding a new relationship. However, just like the old relationship, the new one cannot be guaranteed and also withers with time. Seeing as the right to be happy is hinged on chance and circumstances beyond human manipulation, the notion of a right to happiness does not seem plausible.
To begin to understand what it means to claim a right to be happy, one has to question what a right means. According to C. S. Lewis, claiming that one has the right to happiness …show more content…
I therefore do not see happiness as being a natural right. Even though it is in the human nature to seek happiness and fulfillment, I do not think that it is a possible feat. First of all, the notion of happiness is relative to each individual. What one individual may seek as way of fulfillment is not necessarily what another might desire. As such each person’s happiness is not possible because desires are not parallel and are bound to clash. The society therefore cannot support each person’s claim to happiness. In the case of marriage or relationship, a husband may decide to pursue happiness by cheating on the wife. In such a scenario if his happiness is just then all other men are required to follow that path. Ultimately, it will destroy the institution of marriage and the society at large. That reason discredits the notion of a right to
Individuals usually look for companionship with the ultimate goal of living a life of happiness and fulfillment. With that goal in mind, couples and spouses are naturally inclined to making promises of heaven and earth or they promise that through whatever means suffice, they will fulfill each other’s desires. Nevertheless, those promises usually amount to nothing when the relationship is on the rocks. At that particular point the thought that creeps into one’s mind is that he or she reserves the right to be happy. The natural solution for them is usually finding a new relationship. However, just like the old relationship, the new one cannot be guaranteed and also withers with time. Seeing as the right to be happy is hinged on chance and circumstances beyond human manipulation, the notion of a right to happiness does not seem plausible.
To begin to understand what it means to claim a right to be happy, one has to question what a right means. According to C. S. Lewis, claiming that one has the right to happiness …show more content…
I therefore do not see happiness as being a natural right. Even though it is in the human nature to seek happiness and fulfillment, I do not think that it is a possible feat. First of all, the notion of happiness is relative to each individual. What one individual may seek as way of fulfillment is not necessarily what another might desire. As such each person’s happiness is not possible because desires are not parallel and are bound to clash. The society therefore cannot support each person’s claim to happiness. In the case of marriage or relationship, a husband may decide to pursue happiness by cheating on the wife. In such a scenario if his happiness is just then all other men are required to follow that path. Ultimately, it will destroy the institution of marriage and the society at large. That reason discredits the notion of a right to