Russell Natherson Alexander Torres Hum2305 3 November 2014 The Pursuit of the Good Life: Individual or Societal Effort In the readings Five-Fold Happiness and Symposium, Sung and Plato respectably try to formulate a method on achieving the Good Life. In Sung’s work, Five-Fold Happiness, the Good Life (GL) is related to the contentment of the individual. According to the work, satisfaction is only found when all five virtues are fulfilled. In Symposium, Plato composes the Ladder of Love, and considers the GL to be the ability to see the beauty of everything; and loving that beauty. With respect to the viewpoints presented in their works the pursuit of the GL as an individual endeavor and as a societal effort will be observed. After analyzing Therefore, to achieve prosperity the individual must call on the collective to help in his or her pursuit. Longevity is described as “the desire for long life” (Sung-94). To embody this virtue and live a long life, a healthy attitude and lifestyle is a must. The choice to live in such a way is an individual strife. Society can influence those choices, but the decision for achieving longevity is solely individual. The fourth virtue, Double Happiness, “is synonymous with one of life’s most important celebrations-marriage” (Sung 156). Marriage obviously cannot occur without two individuals, which means it cannot be achieved alone. But in order for love to be found and marriage to occur, an individual endeavor must occur as well. One person must be willing to be vulnerable so another can learn to love him or her. When determining if double happiness can be achieved individually or through society, one must be aware that the choice to pursue this virtue is individual; but for it to transpire society is needed. The final virtue is wealth. According to Sung, wealth is the material aspect of life: prosperity through “business, trade, or good harvests” (Sung 210). To reach this level of materialism, one must work hard and be Preceding its description he enlightens Socrates on a disclaimer; pursuing the Ladder of Love, even in right spirit, does not assure the achievement of the GL. The Ladder of Love metaphorically relates a ladder to the higher concept of appreciating the beauty in life. As one climbs the rungs, a shift occurs between the roles of the individual and the community. At the lowest rung of the ladder, an individual merely has one job; to recognize the beauty of oneself. If similarities are recognized between ones’ body, and that of another, a domino effect occurs. This effect leads to realizing the beauty in everyone; their physical aspects, talents and minds. Further allowing for the recognition of the beauty in knowledge, understanding, and beauty itself. Objects and concepts do not possess beauty, but beauty possess them. Once beauty is recognized in all things, love easily follows. It is human nature to love physical beauty, but realizing beauty takes many forms in all things, it can be loved by anyone. To pursue the GL individually one can use the steps presented by Plato as a guide. When one is able to recognize and love all forms of beauty (animate, inanimate, and abstract) then one may attain the GL. In the same way, society can also use this method to enjoy the beauty of all. A flaw can easily be spotted in the conclusion that the Ladder of Love can be used by an individual void of society to find
From the beginning of time, humans have always endeavored to be happy. During this time, thousands of different people have given their interpretation of the term happiness. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the simplified definition of happiness is feeling pleasure or joy because of a certain situation. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Controller, Mustapha Mond, conceals the truth in order to keep everyone happy. He gives people drugs and brainwashes them into believing that life is good. Satisfying. When John the Savage is introduced to the World State, he questions all things pertaining to “civilization.” The civilized people are willing to do everything in their power to hide from the truth. Throughout the story of Brave New World, every character craves happiness in some way, shape, or form; similarly, our society today concentrates and will
Simply defined, happiness is the state of being happy. But, what exactly does it mean to “be happy?” Repeatedly, many philosophers and ideologists have proposed ideas about what happiness means and how one attains happiness. In this paper, I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of happiness is driven more in the eye of ethics than John Stuart Mill. First, looking at Mill’s unprincipled version of happiness, I will criticize the imperfections of his definition in relation to ethics. Next, I plan to identify Aristotle’s core values for happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness comes from virtue, whereas Mill believes happiness comes from pleasure and the absence of pain. Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior which are driven by virtues - good traits of character. Thus, Aristotle focuses on three things, which I will outline in order to answer the question, “what does it mean to live a good life?” The first of which is the number one good in life is happiness. Secondly, there is a difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues and lastly, leading a good life is a state of character. Personally and widely accepted, happiness is believed to be a true defining factor on leading a well intentioned, rational, and satisfactory life. However, it is important to note the ways in which one achieves their happiness, through the people and experiences to reach that state of being. In consequence, Aristotle’s focus on happiness presents a more arguable notion of “good character” and “rational.”
In the book of Apology by Plato, Plato explains what really makes a person attain happiness. Plato tells us that a person needs to have virtues and a well being of the soul in order to actually have happiness. Plato tell us that without virtue there is no way a person is actually happy. He says humans no matter how famous or poor they are they can attain this happiness that they are seeking through virtues. Plato gives us two categories one is first things and in this section are virtues and well being of the soul. The second category is second things and it includes great health, money, job, sex, honor, being famous etc. Most people in our society believe that having the second things bring true happiness to them but Plato says this is incorrect.
Happiness is a challenging emotion or state of mind that is hard to define. It is remarkably difficult because every person on earth has a dissimilar view on happiness. Happiness should be understood as something that fulfills the person’s abilities. If he or she achieves happiness, then that equates to a balance of pleasure, honor, and self-sufficiency. Aristotle believes the greatest good is happiness. He describes happiness as, “an activity that is guided by and exercises the human virtues” (60). Is the highest good happiness? What are the characteristics of good? Do we all require habituation to become good? Such questions as these stirs up emotional reactions among debates of the topic.
In his several dialogues, Plato contends the importance of the four virtues: wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice. In The Republic, he describes a top-down hierarchy that correlates to the aspects of one’s soul. Wisdom, courage, and temperance preside control over the rational, spirited, and appetitive aspects of the soul. It is when one maintains a balance between these aspects of his soul that he attains peace within himself: “...And when he has bound together the three principles within him...he proceeds to act...always thinking and calling that which preserves and cooperates with this harmonious condition (Plato 443c).” Wisdom and knowledge consistently remain at the top of his view of happiness. During the apology, Plato is asked what punishment is best suited for him. He sarcastically answers, “to be fed...(It is) much more suitable than for any one who has won a v...
After studying the two dialogues, we’ve found that the concepts of love and beauty are inseparable in Plato’s philosophy. Love, despite not being beautiful in itself, is the love of beauty, and as love evolves, the lover ultimately acquire the ability to go through heaven to the realm of transcendental forms where Beauty lies.
relationships with other. Like Confucius once said “virtue is not left to stand alone. He, who
Happiness is the main focus in life and should always be held most high according to Aristotle. He spends a great deal of time explaining how to achieve this we will see that, Aristotle was sure a genuinely happy life required a combination of many things. Which included physical and mental health? Bringing about a scientific way to look at happiness in its entirety.
Happiness is a universal feeling and it is most commonly associated with a smile. In many countries there are different levels of happiness, in our country happiness is a goal that we all have. The obstacle to achieving this goal is “finding” happiness, which is an idea, not an object, and it can be hard to find. Many people try to find happiness by using books, videos, or listening to motivational speakers. The argument about money and if it can bring happiness is prevalent today and can be an engaging topic.
What establishes a noble, valuable, enjoyable life? Many philosophers tried their own beliefs to these ancient and most persistent of philosophical question. Most of Philosophers have agreed that the best possible life is a life where the ideas of “virtue” and “happiness” are fulfilled. Nevertheless expected differences in terms, many great minds theorized that the road to a joyful, flourishing, happy life is paved with virtues. For example, Aristotle believed that anyone keen to live a virtuous life will reach happiness (Aristotle 1992).
It is said that happiness is a feeling that lies in the clarity of the soul, tranquility of the heart, and peace of the mind. However it is also said that happiness is the actual sense of fulfillment that arises from hard work and self-actualization. It is an intangible state of mind that all humans aim to conquer. Sometimes people tend to associate happiness with something familiar, with what they lack or fail to maintain, for if they fall ill, it would be health and if they were short of money, it would be wealth. If we considered these as particular goods or transitory moments of joy that are subject to change, then what defines the ultimate happiness? With all the different views on happiness, what makes some claim that there can only be one true meaning for man’s ultimate bliss, and all the rest of meanings are fallacious ones? Aristotle says “Our task is to become good men, or to achieve the highest human good. That good is happiness”. This paper aims to examine and evaluate the concept of happiness according to each of Al Farabi & Al Ghazali, whereby it sheds light on the elements of true happiness for each author, their mutual views, road of attaining it as well as their divergence of thought regarding that concept, taking into consideration the influence of Islamic theology.
This is referred to as Plato’s ladder of love. According to this theory, a lover must give up all previous objects or individuals as he progresses upward on the ladder aiming to discover the Ideal Form of Beauty (Wiki Symposium). Plato describes the steps of the ladder of love to be first, the view of physical beauty, second the view of beauty in general, and following that, the moral beauty of minds and knowledge. Finally, the absolute idea, to view that of beauty itself, and to attain the love of wisdom, is Plato’s last ring on the ladder (Traumatized). Socrates believed “by going through these stages, one will ascend from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving Beauty itself, from which all beautiful things derive their nature” (Sparknotes). This concept became the starting point of the Platonic love theory, a type of love that is pure and non-sexual. In the end, Socrates concluded that there is no greater companion for human nature than
The Psychology of Happiness provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of analysis into the character of happiness and where it stems. Using analysis from the disciplines of social science, physiology and economic science still as psychological science. Argyle explores the character of positive and negative emotions, and therefore the psych. He describes the effects of positive moods and happiness. Since science is the study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment many people feel that using science in research is very effective in preparing an argument. I feel that this text will be helpful
However, we can wonder if the pleasures that derive from necessary natural desires are what actually brings us happiness, since having a family, friends, a good job and doing fun things seem to bring the most joy in life. Plato’s ideas on life are even more radical, since he claims that we should completely take difference from our bodily needs. Therefore it seems that we should only do what is necessary for us to stay a life and solely focus on the mind. Although both ways of dealing with (bodily)pleasure are quite radical and almost impossible to achieve, it does questions if current perceptions of ‘living the good life’ actually leads to what we are trying to achieve, which is commonly described as
Some people believe that happiness has to do with and an emotional state of being or with a mental state of richness or ownership. While people believe happiness is an end of an achievement others say that it is a start of a great future. Happiness can be categorized in several ways but the three common are in the state of well-being, ownership/richness, or accomplishment. Sam Wren Lewis mentions in his article, “ How Successfully Can We Measure Well-Being through Measuring Happiness?”, that there are two types of happiness for well being, a short term and a long term to defining it. Another author, Dwight R. Lee, states that money does indeed by happiness but to an extent in his “ Who Says Money Cannot Buy Happiness?”. Then