Happiness Essay

Happiness is not merely a simple emotion that a person can experience; it is a way of life that many try to attain through both material and non-physical ways. Arthur C. Brooks concludes that a person should “Love people, use things” and Aristotle counters this mindset by believing that “happiness is an activity of the soul” and while both persons consider that happiness is achieved, each individual has a different conclusion as to how to attain happiness. Although both Brooks and Aristotle…

builds a utopia that the reader is meant to imagine. He builds a bright, free, and happy city. However, one large stipulation of the communities’ happiness is that pain of an innocent child is needed to keep that perfect world together. With that in mind, The Ones Who Walk Away from the City of Omelas, by Ursula Le Guin, questions whether majority happiness should be valued above one innocent individual’s suffering, analyzes the response of the citizens, whether it is ethical to live in that…

that people all over the world who seek happiness aren’t happy since they only think about themselves and assume that happiness can be a choice that can be made easily and pursued forcibly. Mill explains that seeking happiness isn’t the end of the world and isn’t the main goal of living. Mill argues that people who have found happiness are lucky and “have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness” by acknowledging other people's happiness. Mill’s main point on how to be…

One essay that came to my thoughts when discussing happiness and what it really means was the "Inner Contentment" by The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. There was an aspect discussed in this essay and I believe is the source that happiness derives from, desires. If you have a desire for anything, once you acquire such thing, you ultimately get satisfaction, another form of happiness. Desires spring our thoughts and ideas, later affecting our actions. All we want to do with desires is to fulfill…

Human Life In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores the nature of happiness and offers his own account of what sort of life he thinks best achieves this. In this book Aristotle focuses on two important questions the first being “what is happiness?” and the second being “what sort of life should we live if we want to achieve that happiness?” Keeping these questions in mind I will discuss Aristotle’s definition of happiness and some of the lifestyles that he believes will ultimately lead to a…

had their own defining virtue and happiness. The ancient philosopher covered in this essay will include Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, and the Stoics. Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics hold happiness as the highest good and believe it is what we all seek in the end. The Epicureans hold a slightly different view, they find that happiness is pleasure, and pleasure is the highest good. Each of these individuals define happiness in their own way and also have happiness be either directly or…

A Roman stoic philosopher, Seneca also argued that although human beings cannot change the events, they can pursue happiness by affecting their thoughts, specifically by altering their attitude to those events. He assumed that we are rather like dogs, tied to the moving chariot. The leash is not long enough to let us go wherever we want, but it still gives us some freedom. This freedom is based on human beings’ ability to influence their perception. Pessimistic approach defends us from…

truly achieve happiness, or simply, what is happiness? Can you you chose to be content or does it just happen? Well, John Stuart Mill, a autobiography writer, believes that contentment can not be found, if one seeks for it. In Mill’s own words, “The only chance it to treat, not happiness, but some end external to it, a the purpose of life.” In the autobiography, “Chapter V, A Crisis in My Mental History: One Stage Onward” by John Stuart Mill, Mill claimed that one will find happiness by the…

Growing up as a hispanic woman in America has always been more difficult than I thought it was going to be. There were many times where I felt excluded, judged or like I am not as good as other people. Throughout my life this has always affected my happiness because it was never as easy as I wanted it to be. With that being said, many people that are also a different race also struggle with this problem and this affects their wellbeing as well. I came to realize what a struggle being a person of…

Is there such a thing as true happiness? Can one live their life to the fullest without feeling a single ounce of regret? In today’s society, one is told constantly that living with happiness is a dream. They are ridiculed if they believe in that notion and are teased if they express it. The cruelty of human nature becomes evident when this comes into play. In Plato’s Phaedrus, the difference between a lover and non lover is discussed. Lysias’ speech discusses the relationship between a boy…