A Comparison of Contemporary American Notions of Happiness to the Epicurean View

Can anyone be truly happy? A economist name Richard A. Easterlin once said “...Although richer people were happier than poorer people in the same country, people in weather countries were not necessarily happier than those in poorer ones.” Which means that wealth doesn’t bring people happiness, it it how people spend their lives that bring them so much happiness. When people look back at the past the ones that help others are more happier than the ones that try and help themselves.

He said people are happier if they live in wealthy than poor nations. However, when people have enough money to pay for their basic need of food, shelter, etc., money does relatively little to improve happiness. He said people today are twice as rich as people in the late 1960s, but they were less happy than people in the 1960s. In the article “Spending Become You” the author Juliet Schor argues that Americans are looking for happiness, so that lead them to continuously buy so much and overspend without even realizing that they are spending more than they make. David G Myers, in the article “ The Funds, and Faith of Happy people” he argues that it is impossible what these people are doing, because money can’t buy happiness. This shows that, the American habit of overspending is unnecessary. Myers’ article enables us to understand why Schor said, all that Americans do is spend, spend and spend as if they can’t have fun without spending

Happiness is something very abstract and it differs from individual to individual. I always feel that a poor man will always be thankful to the almighty even if he is provided with two square meals a day but at least he can sleep happily with no stress; on the other hand a rich man will always be unhappy throughout his life either in the pursuit of creating wealth or in the tension of safeguarding his wealth. Accumulating wealth is extremely time consuming and time once lost cannot be regained; moreover, not all have the potential and skills of earning which is always coupled with hard work and

At the end of the day, the affluent are still not satisfied with their wealth or material items. Source D provides a great example. Even though the couple has purchased everything they could possibly want, they still feel “something is missing.” What they are missing is not a tangible object. It is not something one could go to a store and buy. They cannot obtain happiness in a nice little box on a store shelf. There is no price on happiness. Source A believes “happiness is desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else.” Nothing can supplement happiness. True happiness is “something final and self-sufficient.” People with affluenza can never find this happiness through the constant purchasing of more stuff. Happiness is achieved in many different ways for different individuals but not through wealth. For example, the mother in Source I begins to understand this when she becomes older one Christmas. She realizes no matter how many gifts she may receive,

What brings us happiness, people or materialistic objects? In, “Too much of Nothing,” Charlie Creekmore states that most Americans believe wealth brings happiness meaning happiness can be bought. Though he exaggerates to make his point, I do agree with his notion. I have met too many individuals that value wealth and materialistic objects and believe that they will find happiness in that. My friend’s roommate, Shanice, my grandmother, and my mom’s co-worker, Theresa, are some of the few that believe that happiness can be bought.

Studies have shown, only 1-in-3 Americans are very happy with their life. The two-thirds that are not happy tend to believe one of two things: that they are not happy because they do not own or have as many things compared to another person, and because they fill their inner void of happiness with money. The truth is money can buy many, many things, except happiness.

Everyone in life has their own perspective of happiness, everyone has their own struggles and obstacles that they go through . Individually, happiness does not include materialistic items because they only last for the moment. Happiness is when you are content with yourself within and do not care about others judging you for you. People in our society often think that having the finer things in life and changing their appearance will help them cope with the flaws inside of themselves. Instead of being satisfied with who they are and what they already have, they tend to go above and beyond their means as an individual. This makes it harder to become lively because people are consistently trying to find happiness outside of themselves when in

Over the years, different philosophers have given different outlines for living a happy and flourishing life. For Epicureans, happiness is pleasure. They describe that we should only persuade necessary desires like simple food and friends and abstain ourselves from unnecessary ones. Rather than pursuit of pleasure, we should pursuit the absence of pain. Therefore, simple life is the key to a happy

Ultimately happiness is something everyone wants to maintain, however some ways are only temporary or don't work at all. For example, people who treasure materialistic things such as clothes, cars and money will only be happy with it for a fleeting time. Materialism has become a substantial problem in society and is one of the reasons people struggle to be constantly happy. This is because people have been taught that success is measured in the amount of money you have and the worth and collection of the things you own. We live

Over the course of time there have been a multitude of philosophers that have claimed to find the true meaning of happiness. One of these philosophers was Epicurus who originally studied “sensual pleasure” and then moved to a discussion on one’s inner happiness through friendship, freedom, and thought. The Consolation of Philosophy tracks Epicurus’s evolution of philosophical ideas throughout his lifetime to express to the reader how to create a happy and healthy life.

How to find happiness is a question that Epicurus answered. Epicurus was a famous philosopher that lived a simple life. His answer to happiness involved three ingredients. Friendship was the first ingredient, and in Epicurus’s opinion the most important. He purposed that friends should live with one another, which he did. He also thought that instead of think about what to eat or drink that people should think about who they are going to eat or drink with. The second ingredient is freedom. Freedom to Epicurus meant finical independence. Epicurus and his friends moved and created a self-sufficient environment to have total freedom. The last ingredient is an analyzed life. He believed that to have a happy life people must take time

Aristotle sets many limits on attaining Happiness, due do his understanding of what Happiness is derived from. He sees participation in life as crucial, as, "at the Olympic games it is not the finest and strongest men that are crowned, but those that enter the lists," i.e., one must be a part of life in order to be judged by the standards of living. Aristotle also finds various external goods to be of absolute necessity, including friends, money, and political influence, as they are "instruments by which many things are done." In the same case and kind he lists fortunate birth, valued children, and personal appearance. These, too, he thinks are necessary to a complete realization of Happiness. Even the stability of these things—and a person's reputation—after death is considered part of Happiness. Important, I think, is the understanding that these things are not Happiness, but as we see later, the excess or deficiency of these things hinders the fulfillment of Happiness. The last two limitations on Happiness have to do with reason itself. Aristotle finds that it is inconceivable that either animals or children might know Happiness, as their limited faculties prevent them from knowing Happiness fully. Likewise, a balanced personality is necessary to realizing Happiness since, "this stability which is sought will be in the happy man, and he will be such through life, since always…he will be doing and contemplating the things

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness? Today, the argument can be made that happiness and consumerism are directly linked. It is fair to say that happiness is a relative term for different people. However, the obtaining of new and shiny things has become such a part of everyday life, that it provides happiness when people are purchasing something new, and causes sadness when no buying is taking place. For many, it seems to be a protective coating against the harsh realities of everyday stresses from a job, or family life.

Despite that, most find their happiness in how wealthy they are. “Money buys you happiness”, which others take literal and therefore claim money are their true idea of happiness. Happiness is more formulated by the way one’s mindset is subjected and the way they have a perspective of things. However, according to Aristotle, this is not how happiness should be defined as and how an individual should live happiness by. Happiness is more of an aspiration that borders the completeness of one 's life. It should not be something that can be lost and gone in any second, but rather it should be something that measures the ultimate value of your life and how well you have lived your full prospective solitary. "He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life," (Nicomachean ethics, 1101a10). In order to live a life of good virtue and pure bliss, we would need to make better and more important choices. Most people tend to find a quick fix, like drugs, to a problem they may encounter, and that is one of the worries of today 's society. In reality, this does not help you achieve happiness but instead leaves you needing and wanting more, in which it will leave an individual wretched and feeling miserable.

Happiness is a component of psychology that many people don’t understand. When it comes to happiness some people think it’s materialistic and some people believe that it's a state of mind that no object can help you reach. Both perspectives are reasonable because there are rich people that are happy, but at the same time there are broke