Aristotle's Theories Of Happiness: Dalai Lama And Jesus

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Throughout time there have been many outstanding figures that support different views on morality, ethics, and how to achieve happiness. Although there are many, I will be writing about philosophers Aristotle and Immanuel Kant, as well as the Dalai Lama and Jesus. Through his teachings, the philosopher Aristotle demonstrates that happiness does not equal pleasure; but defines happiness as a condition of the good person who succeeds in living well and acting well (McNamara, 2016). Similar to the views of Aristotle, the philosopher Immanuel Kant believes that “Morality is not property the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we make ourselves worthy of happiness” (McNamara, 2016). The Dalai Lama preached that happiness is a choice …show more content…

Aristotle teaches that to be happy does not surmount to pleasures, because pleasures are not universal, but that happiness is the result of being a good person who is successful in living/acting well. His two theories outline his beliefs on how a person can become happy and what kind of mentality a person needs to have in order to be a good person. Although, Aristotle's concerns were never on the individual, his first concern were on the common good of the state. His theories on human excellence and the mean, were adopted in the 13 century by Thomas Aquinas (philosopher that taught catholicism) (McNamara, 2016). The theory based around Human Excellence was concentrated on the belief that human excellence comes from habits that are developed over time that represent what it means to be considered a human. An example of a good person, is one who uses reasons to control his/her own desires (McNamara, 2016). Aristotle believes that because humans demonstrate good virtues, then god must exist. Virtue can be accomplished only through practice and then goodness will overcome a person within. Aristotle's second theory, The Mean, evolves around one's actions maintaining balance. He teaches that if we don't like something, we shouldn't avoid that something completely, we should pick the …show more content…

Just as the title suggests, Jesus went to a crowd of people, sat on a mountainside and taught his disciples. Although there are many disciples Jesus taught in his Sermon, in this essay I will only be discussing three key points that stood out to me: Ask, Seek, Knock, Salt and Light, and The Narrow and Wide Gates. The discipline of Ask, Seek, Knock evolves around the concept that there is no such thing as a closed door. The quote “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you” (McNamara, 2016), clarifies that no one is truly alone because there is always someone who is more than willing to help you. This discipline also comes back to the saying “treat other the way you want to be treated” because by doing that, only good and happiness can be the outcome of every situation. The Salt and the Light discipline focuses on the insides of a person. The salt can be viewed as the bad things happening around someone and the light can symbolize the person themself. This passage means that people should let the light within them, even though times are difficult, shine through for others to see (McNamara, 2016). Some people may view this as a wrong thing to do but if our talents are God given, we should show them off. This is what Jesus is trying to convey in the passage of The Salt and Light. The last discipline I will

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