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The pursuit of happyness sociological
Aristotle and Epictetus view on human happiness
Aristotle and Epictetus view on human happiness
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People who are viewed as happy in our culture today are also seen as being rich, having a loving family, and a great occupation. Our society is attracted to material things, rather than spiritual ones. Can a person who does not have many possessions and an elevated social position still live a happy life? Epicurus believed that each one of us could achieve true happiness, and our only problem is that we stubbornly search for it in all the wrong places. Epicurus states that we only need three things to be happy besides the essentials needed for survival: friends, freedom, and an analyzed life. I will be comparing contemporary American notions of happiness to the Epicurean view. In our contemporary American life we have the desire for things that we do not really need to make us happy. Our commercial world intends to sell us substitutes for the things we truly need in order to be happy. We replace our real needs with things like clothing, furniture, cars, nice houses, and many other unessential items. Many individuals place the blame for an unhappy lifestyle on their occupation, and search out alternatives such as material items. We are happy when we receive things fast, because of our lack of patience, and because we simply enjoy the hassle free lifestyle. Our technological advances have made many things easy for us and it brings us some joy. Examples include that we rather drive than walk, and eat from unhealthy fast food restaurants than cook a meal ourselves. We see advertisements everywhere selling us products to make us happy, however the happiness from sex, food, and excitement are pleasures that are short lived. If we took away all unnecessary items for survival from our society today, could we still be happy? ... ... middle of paper ... ...death, and the supernatural. Money cannot buy you analyzed thoughts about your life, or help you cope with the emotional effects of illness or death. Epicureans are looking for peace and freedom from fear and pain. Pleasure is how human beings can sense they are doing something right. I believe that a simpler life in general would help people live a happier lifestyle. We must have the essential needs for survival; however the unnecessary materialistic items are not needed and cannot bring happiness. We all can benefit from living a more Epicurean life, and we should take their advice to focus on friendship, independence, and thinking rationally. Bibliography “Letter to Menoeceus,” http://www.epicurus.net/en/menoeceus.html “Letter to Idomeneus,” http://www.epicurus.net/en/idomeneus.html “Letter to Herodotus,” http://www.epicurus.net/en/herodotus.html
The society uses one’s happiness to seek their own. Starting with the ancient Adam Smith’s theory of a market economy where commodities are sold and bought in a market freely, where sellers and buyers exchange to achieve profit, and happiness is derived from profit. Thus “happiness is both produced and consumed” (Ahmed 3). Happiness is a matter of research for corporates of big companies. They try to figure out which product makes the buyers feel the happiness they need, so that they can produce more for their own profit. So, they cunningly make commercials with people having a good time. Which when watched by the buyers they get the false sense that their life would be so much better if they bought that small bottle of happiness. Once they buy their “Pandora’s box” they hope that underneath all the unnecessary objects there will be happiness, but they are dispirited at the end. Unknowingly the markets are making the society a more dull and sad place rather than distributing
As Aristotle said in his “Nicomachean Ethics”, the wise people that you will meet in life will pick “honor, pleasure, reason, and every virtue” to try to achieve what they think is happiness. Also in this book he states that obtaining pure happiness comes from “sufficiently being equipped with external goods” and that this is what brings people happiness and satisfies them. Pretty much Aristotle is saying that people that would have excess goods, such as money, food, cars, clothes, houses, and other comforts to human beings, and if they had these items they would be ha...
“Discontented with your present condition for reasons which presage for your unfortunate posterity even greater discontent, you will wish perhaps you could go backwards in time – and this feeling must utter the eulogy of your first ancestors, the indictment of your contemporaries, and the terror of those who have the misfortune to live after you” (P.79). In Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequality, he not only argues the inequalities between men, but also the inequality of happiness between the pre-civilized and post-civilized human. Rousseau believes that as savages, humanity lives a simple and oblivious lifestyle, unaware of their own existence with “self preservation being [their] only concern” (P.86). Rousseau defines this monotonous existence as happiness, yet with a constant, unchanging lifestyle, comfort and indifference appear to be surpassing characterizations. Modern living, which Rousseau views as an oppressive pit of misery, contrasts savagery with its diversity and thus possibility of happiness. Though Rousseau successfully depicts the adequate lifestyle of the “savage people”, he fails to convince readers of a pre-civilized greater happiness.
Epicurus’s version of happiness is the lack of pain. His version of happiness requires friendship, thought, and freedom. Friendship is said to give people a sense of themselves and he believed that without friendship people would not be able to live without being emotionally numb. Friends give the love and support that people want. Thought is said to allow people to think
People are often stuck in a hardship due to desires and freedom actually is fate in this country. Living freely and happily has a matristic view in this society, so many people end up suffering. When you can aspire to live with an open mind, a kind heart, and desire less in materials, you can start to live a free happy life. You start to value what is important in life which is relationships with people, spending your time wisely on things that can benefit you or make you happy. What is not relatable to me is Epicureanism. When you do not work, you do not receive in this society. I do not see how Epicurus was able to eat or obtain any material goods like a hammock if he laid around all day with no responsibilities and did whatever he desired. I don’t see his methods having an overall positive outlook for the rest of his life. In this society Epicurus would not get far, and he would probably be
Everyone who lives on the earth has their good and bad days, when it is a bad day, as human beings we deserve to splurge every once in a while. We work hard here as humans and deserve some kind of replenishment for it, whether it is material, physical, emotional, or whatever else it is that one wants. Epicurus believes pleasure is the standard of morality.... ... middle of paper ...
How often do you walk into a store after you receive a pay cheque and come out of the store with less money and more stuff? At least you put that good money to use to buy products that will make you happy, right? Wrong. Most people buy stuff because they think that it will make them happier or make them complete. The truth is that products or stuff might make you happy, but only for a short time. Soon that
Happiness is different for many people. Although “happy” is one of the first adjectives people learn, the requirements for people to consider themselves happy are numerous. It would be remiss to invoke parameters upon happiness because of this. Unfortunately the modern era has brought about a happiness-seeking culture; a society that seeks to be strictly happy without any of the lows. This creates a multitude of problems including a culture focused on an economic system that measures happiness and a disregard for the lows which create meaning in happiness. Happiness also creates and amplifies the desire to be complacent in the intellectual pursuits. For many people the goal of happiness equates to a reason to ignore all problems and challenges
Aristotle rejects the idea of universal happiness by explaining how Plato does not incorporate the large number of variants. Aristotle believes that good is not a single, common universal, because what it is to be good is particular to the essence of the individual. One might also argue that other common factors associated with happiness were wealth, pleasure, knowledge, and honor. Aristotle disagrees and found each of these limited to the notion of the good of man. Some benefits that may motivate them to seek better opportunities within their career may be the thought of money bringing happiness and also they will practice living the good life. Developing a good character requires a strong effort of will to do the right thing, even in difficult situations. The general idea that happiness is a result of the wealth is skewed from reality. Wealth is a means to happiness, not actual happiness, one who is wealthy, but is unable to actually use the money is not happy. Aristotle feels the good for man is something that is not dependent on anything else, so being wealthy is not something desirable. Happiness is not pleasurable sensations that can be gained or lost, it is what we seek when acting and is a condition of a person over a lifetime, not at one
Contrary to belief, genuine happiness is very rarely found at the bottom of a shopping basket or on the leather seats of a brand new car. Often we hear the cliché saying “Money can’t buy happiness” but this is in fact true. Whilst the elation and delight brought from finally owning a wanted item is extraordinary, you must remind yourself that your happiness should not become dependant upon your ownership of this item. Being happy is not something you can purchase from a shop or car dealership, it is the way you take on life. Unfortunately, happiness does not have its own aisle at shops and never will.
Sometimes we ask ourselves what would make us happy? What is more important to us? Not everyone has the same opinion about these questions, there are those who believe that it is to be wealthy and have a high social position. On the other hand, there are people that live in extreme poverty and they are the happiest human beings on earth. That is because
In this day and age, Americans own things like cars, video games, and flat screen TVs. But is that helping them reach happiness? Huffington Post states, “The American Dream is changing to the idea of materialism.” Like the holidays, they are a perfect example of shopping; Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and also Black Friday. Examples like this, are when consumer culture comes out and families use their money to buy gifts for their kids and grandchildren. In addition, many materialistic values that consumer cultures support, play a big role in the psychology of materialism. These people who pursue wealth and material possessions tend to be less satisfied with how they
He stated that “happiness is a life of virtuous activity in accordance with reason”. (Aristotle). The importance of this quote is happiness can neither be gained or lose in a few hours. It is a value of your life measuring up to your full potential as a human being. Aristotle reveals that you should not announce your happiness has been lived until your life has come to an end. It does not just take one day to fulfil happiness it takes time. The secret to achieving most of your happiness is having a good personality. Developing a good personality will require strong effort, you have to wat happiness for all the right reasons. For instance, being addicted to drugs. This is top issue in the world today that is often mistaken as a pain reliever and a way of happiness, but once it’s out of the system everything comes back. We cannot try to substitute real happiness for the knock off brand. Happiness comes from within and help from family. Friends, and
I think you would have to conclude that living simple could be a great way to a possibly better world. However it is entirely up to the individual. You can’t be forced into simple living. I think that for a short while anybody would enjoy, even love, simple living but after a while you feel like you miss out on a bunch of things. That’s because our society is build up around all the things that you suddenly disconnects from your life.
Happiness can be viewed as wealth, honour, pleasure, or virtue. Aristotle believes that wealth is not happiness, because wealth is just an economic value, but can be used to gain some happiness; wealth is a means to further ends. The good life, according to Aristotle, is an end in itself. Similar to wealth, honour is not happiness because honour emphases on the individuals who honour in comparison to the honouree. Honour is external, but happiness is not. It has to do with how people perceive one another; the good life is intrinsic to the...