Essay on How Do Virtue and Chance Contribute to Happiness?

Lyubomirsky defines happiness as the “experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile” (184). She challenges the myths that people can find happiness by changing their circumstances and that people either are “born happy or unhappy” (186). Happiness is not something that can be found or something that not everyone can have. People make their own happiness, despite the difficulties they may face. Happiness comes by “choosing to change and manage your state of mind” (185). Lyubomirsky gives cases of people who are happy even though they suffer from losses and setbacks. These are the people whose circumstances should make them unhappy, but their intentional actions bring them joy. She also gives cases of people who have not suffered any major losses but are still unhappy because they may see events negatively and feel helpless before them. Lyubomirsky asserts that “changes in our circumstances, no matter how positive and stunning, actually have little bearing on our well-being” (186). Even though a person’s circumstances may be positive, those circumstances do not make them happy. Lyubomirsky uses a Subjective Happiness Scale to measure happiness, which takes the average of numerical answers to four questions. She argues that in order to become happier, “you need to determine your present personal happiness level, which will provide your first estimate of your happiness

I believe that one of the ultimate questions that all members of the human species asks is ‘How can I find happiness?’ and reflected in this question is a desire to find a happy, fulfilling, quality life. Many people try to find such happiness through their careers, material possessions, and all manner of other pursuits. What a large portion of these people do not realize is that happiness and the elements necessary to achieve a quality life may not come from place, position, or possession but from attitude. In both Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell and Sunny Chernobyl by Andrew Blackwell, the reader can see these ideas explored in great detail.

As human beings we are naturally wired to seek happiness wherever we can find it. When we don’t, we may enter a stage of anger, anxiety, or distress. That’s why it is our personal goal to look for happiness and preserve it once we acquire it. Many have explored ways to find what triggers this feeling of “happiness” and what we can do to keep it; nonetheless, the evidence found is hardly sufficient to make a public statement on how to find happiness. For this reason, most of the time we speculate what might provoke this feeling of contentment. “Happiness is a glass half empty,” an essay written by Oliver Burkeman, highlights the importance of happiness and discloses how we can find delight through unorthodox methods. The prime objective of this piece of writing is to inform the audience about the effect of happiness on their lives and how their usual attempts of becoming happier can sabotage achieving this feeling. Furthermore, he wants to promote the benefits of pessimism and describe how it can help us in the long run. The author utilizes pronouns, logos, and pathos in order to prove his point and draw the audience into his essay, in an attempt of making them reconsider the way they live their lives and adopt this new pessimistic way that would greatly boost their level of happiness.

Mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to the effects of some actions on their happiness; and the beliefs which have thus come down are the rules of morality for the multitude, and for the philosopher until he has succeeded in finding better. That philosophers might easily do this, even now, on many subjects; that the received code of ethics is by no means of divine right; and that mankind have still much to learn as to the effects of actions on general happiness, I admit or rather earnestly maintain.

Aristotle is an ancient Greek philosopher who has played a part in subjects such as mathematics and ethics. As a known student of Plato, Aristotle’s knowledge on various topics immensely affected people’s philosophical views. For Aristotle, his definitions of human happiness and a good life consist of being virtuous all throughout life. Happiness comes from being an overall good person; this is “the best way to lead a life and give it meaning” (Psychology Today). According to Aristotle, happiness is a continuing achievement. “Happiness is more a question of behavior and of habit—of ‘virtue’—than of luck; a person who cultivates such behaviors and habits is able to bear his

Furthermore, Aristotle believes when the virtuous person does an action only through the sake of it self there is no other means to the end and one will eventually become virtuous. However, when the action is preformed for the sake of something else, then a person will not reach the highest form of virtue. The reason for this is when the action that is preformed for the sake of something else, then it will not reach complete happiness because it will always desire more.

Excessive fearlessness and exceeding confidence, nor exceeding fear and lack of confidence (deficiency), does not make a courageous man. Aristotle talks about the courageous person, and that person acts with the awareness of the concept of honor and expresses it in a manner that is proportionate, knowing exactly what to really fear. Many different things can be frightening; one must decipher these things the greater fear from the lesser for the sake of the beautiful. (Aristotle 49, Sachs) To correctly aim at what is beautiful, one actively achieves moral virtue. The beautiful is the purest form of beauty and Aristotle states that beautiful action comes from a beautiful character and aims at beauty. Virtue aims at enduring fears and feeling confident with respect to rationality. Aristotle claims that the courageous man may fear things that not everyone feels the need to fear, but he will endure and overcome these fears and feel rationally confident.

Virtue is a mean condition which falls between the extremes of excess and deficiency which are both subject to vices. Either of those two vices, or the practices of base behaviors, happen to rely on the virtue that one aims for. For instance, courage is a virtue of which cowardice and rashness are the deficiency and excess of respectively. Evidence of this is seen in Book II, Chapter 9 of Nichomachean Ethics where Aristotle mentions “…virtue of character is a mean condition, and in what way, namely because it is a mean between two kinds of vice, the one resulting from excess and the other from deficiency…” It is important to understand that virtue is not acquired naturally but rather through being-at-work.

Unlike happiness, virtue is not an activity, but a disposition and a state of being. More precisely, it is a disposition to behave in the right manner. In Aristotle’s description, virtues are the “means” and intermediate states between what he considers vicious states (excess and deficiency). In other words, they are the moderation of desiring too much and desiring too little. For example, the state of being courageous is considered a virtuous disposition because it moderates the states of being cowardly (deficit) and rash (excess). Furthermore, Aristotle describes the virtuous person as one whose passions and deliberation are aligned; someone whose possession of goodness allows their acts to be guided by the balance of their “means” and their rationality. This means that to achieve a virtuous state one has to consistently aim for the “mean” of their actions to the point where it’s instinctive. (Nic. Ethics II 6).

Aristotle argues that virtues lie between (mean) two vices one of excess and one of deficiency and that virtues are determined through reason; if one acts in accordance with virtues then they are deemed to be good of character. Moral virtues, or good traits, are “attained” through habitual doing of such acts and in turn such acts determine one’s character. One must consciously do what is right for oneself. By that I mean, one

I will assert that virtue is the happy, magnificent, and content median between the two vices. This type of happiness is our highest objective in life. Moreover, all human activities aim at some end that we consider good. According to Aristotle, virtue is a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are called vices. Individuals learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice. Moreover, Aristotle does not say that we should aim for happiness, but rather that we do aim at happiness. Most individuals think of “happiness” as physical pleasure or honor, but this is because they have an imperfect view of the good life.

Some say that part of the human condition is the pursuit of happiness, but what is happiness? Is it having the best house and cars on the block? Is it he who has the most friends? To some, happiness is the highest level of success. In four pieces of work that we will be comparing, the protagonists are at odds with life. They are looking for something more that will help them find happiness. Happiness is not determined by what is happening around you, but rather what is happening inside of you. “Aristotle held that there are three forms of happiness. The first form of happiness is a life of pleasure and enjoyment. The second form of happiness is a life as a free and responsible citizen. The third form of happiness is a life as thinker and philosopher.(Gaarder 105)” Aristotle almost had it right. If Aristotle had lived today, he might have changed his three forms to fit today’s age. Happiness could be achieved with love, free will and pursuing a meaningful life.

This idea of goodness and virtue goes anything beyond worldly values and ideals. "A good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death"(41d), says Socrates further explaining that no matter what, "a better man [cannot] be harmed by a worse"(30d). Having virtue gives you a certain happiness that is well beyond life or death or worldly values and goods.

The feeling of happiness can make living life more enjoyable. According to Richard Schoch’s “A Critique of Positive Psychology” happiness has become “the ultimate luxury item”(452). Some may argue if money is happiness, but happiness has became the thing everyone is in demand for. Everyone wants to obtain happiness but, happiness has a different definition around the world. Almost anyone can agree that their goal in life is to become happy within their society. When one achieves their definition of happiness,

Human nature is a complex system that has many layers of its composition. With this, we tend to often ask ourselves “what consistencies are evident in the activity of happiness?” Happiness is presented to us in a variety of forms that point us in the direction of having the same end result. Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Lewis each provided their own unique views on the accounts of happiness that are portrayed through human nature. With this, there are consistent principles of human nature that relate to happiness through being self-absorbed, finding pleasure, obedient, and moral.