People define happiness in many different ways, rather it is from their experiences or their surroundings. The purpose of life is consequently more than the fleeting moments of happiness. The author, Emily Esfahani Smith, of “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” is somewhat persuasive in her use of logos, pathos, and ethos.
The first aspect Smith uses is logos. According to the Center for Disease Control, “4 out of 10 Americans have not discovered a satisfying life purpose. Forty percent either do not think their lives have a clear sense of purpose or are neutral about whether their lives have purpose. Nearly a quarter of Americans feel neutral or do not have a strong sense of what makes their lives meaningful.” The way Smith uses that statistic she makes you think about life. The author interprets the purpose of life by making us readers …show more content…
Smith uses credible resources to back up the idea that “There’s more to than being happy” by quoting Frankl Viktor’s 1946 book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.’’ Viktor was a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna while living in a Nazi concentration camp. He wrote the book in nine days telling about his experience living at the camps and what he noticed between those that had survived and those who had perished. “As he saw in the camps, those who found meaning even in the most horrendous circumstances were far more resilient to suffering than those who did not.” Two men Viktor had talked to while being a therapist at the concentration camp felt like they had no purpose and there was nothing to live for but he explained to them that “life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them.” After Viktor said that the men then realized that he was right. One man said it was his child and the other, a scientist, said finishing a series of
The first aspect Smith uses is logos. According to the Center for Disease Control, “4 out of 10 Americans have not discovered a satisfying life purpose. Forty percent either do not think their lives have a clear sense of purpose or are neutral about whether their lives have purpose. Nearly a quarter of Americans feel neutral or do not have a strong sense of what makes their lives meaningful.” The way Smith uses that statistic she makes you think about life. The author interprets the purpose of life by making us readers …show more content…
Smith uses credible resources to back up the idea that “There’s more to than being happy” by quoting Frankl Viktor’s 1946 book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.’’ Viktor was a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna while living in a Nazi concentration camp. He wrote the book in nine days telling about his experience living at the camps and what he noticed between those that had survived and those who had perished. “As he saw in the camps, those who found meaning even in the most horrendous circumstances were far more resilient to suffering than those who did not.” Two men Viktor had talked to while being a therapist at the concentration camp felt like they had no purpose and there was nothing to live for but he explained to them that “life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them.” After Viktor said that the men then realized that he was right. One man said it was his child and the other, a scientist, said finishing a series of