John Stuart Mills Happiness

According to Mill’s arguments and views on happiness, it is convincing that happiness is good: that each individual’s happiness is a beneficial thing to them. As well as, the proof of happiness is when people actually desire it and feel like they have never desired anything else (44). Mill defines happiness as intended pleasure and freedom from pain. Utilitarianism and happiness are linked to each other because the morality of a human action should do the right thing that is useful or beneficial to the society, which happiness is involved. For example, a person sees an elderly struggling carrying the grocery bags, and then the person comes over and helps. The outcome makes both of the people feel happy and it constitutes the society a better place. When people want to break away from unhappy people will take other people’s happiness away to make them happy.

When it comes to happiness, people acknowledges it as the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction one gets from doing something that makes them happy. The principles of happiness are researched by philosophers such as Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill. John Stuart Mill’s autobiography, A Crisis in My Mental History: One Stage Onward, shows that he believes the happiness of oneself is not meant to be forced. However, the enjoyment of itself should allow itself to be discovered on its own, and “find happiness by the by”. I agree with John Mill’s statement of an individual’s happiness not to be constrained, but to appear naturally.

John Stuart Mills, in chapter five of his autobiography “A Crisis in My Mental History: One Stage Onward”, (1909-14), suggest that mankind can never find happiness when it is their goal, they can only find it when their minds are fixed on something unrelated to the topic. He supports his claim by first stating, that happiness is only found when we have our minds fixed on something else than our happiness, then he says that when we are conscious of our feelings and when we feel happiness that is when we feel the most misery and sorrow, and finally he suggests that happiness will come naturally as long as we don’t dwell on the feeling. Mill’s purpose is to express that we are not supposed to be focused on happiness, it will come just as naturally as the air we breathe, but if we do we will just find ourselves in a state of misery. He establishes a very informative serious tone for anybody anywhere.

Explain in your own words the logic of Mill’s argument, and critically discuss whether happiness should be the criterion of morality.

Mill’s views on morality is utilitarianism, which is centered mainly on pleasure and happiness. Everyone can agree that feeling pain is bad and that happiness is a good thing. He emphasizes that actions that maximizes pleasure and decreases pain for the greatest number is right. Mills does not necessarily mean personally happiness, as that is a common misconception of utility, whereas he means happiness for the greater number of people. Which leads to examples in the aspect of sacrificing yourself for others. This

In contrast to these beliefs, in McMahon’s article people begin to argue that the problem was not the search for happiness, but that we are not directing our priorities. To explain, the people, as stated by Mill, feel that there is “too much concentration on gross national product and there should be more focus on gross national happiness”. McMahon made a suggestion in regards to Mill; it was to put in time with a charity, spend time with family, or a walk in the park. McMahon followed that by saying “If you’re lucky, you’ll find happiness; if not, your time won’t be wasted. You might even bring some joy to the world.” To clarify, McMahon is emphasizing the overall idea that happiness is not simply found; it is achieved only when exploring

John Stuart Mills, in his autobiography, “ A Crisis in My Mental History: One Stage Onward” (1909-14), argues that you are only happy if you are thinking of something other than your own happiness. He supports his claim by first giving examples on how you can not focus on your happiness, then ask if you ask yourself if you are happy you won’t be happy, then he says if you think about being happy you will exhaust yourself and not find happiness. and finally if you don’t focus on only your happiness you will inhale happiness with the air you breathe. Mills purpose is to show his opinion on happiness in order to show that we will only find happiness when we stop looking for it. He uses a serious tone for general public.

A philosopher, John Stuart Mill, wrote an autobiography dedicated to the topic of his own mental health and life. Through this he offered a new way to see happiness and how to truly achieve it. According to Mill happiness can’t be achieved by simply wanting it, instead you have to do things for others to become happy. He also wrote about the fact that if you question your own happiness you’ll never be happy. I agree with Mill, due to my own personal experiences that helped me find happiness through my own bout with depression. I found that the reason I couldn’t escape the depression was the fact that I kept questioning my own happiness and how others were so much happier than me, I grew bitter and angry, tightening the grip my depression

Not everybody gets happy when they look for their own happiness. That’s why people like john stuart mill’s don’t look for happiness instead of happiness. like some don’t

In order to determine whether happiness should be or not be the goal of all human kind, we must first consider what kind and of happiness that humans desire, and it’s true definition. According to John Stuart Mill, the definition of happiness is an intended pleasure and an absence of pain. (Shafer-Landau, p.17) As accurate as Mill’s definition of happiness seems to be, we must consider that if we achieve this “intended pleasure” for ourselves, then will the same pleasure be experienced by those around us? For example, say you’re back in your kid years, (5-11 years old), and you’re at the point in your life when you’re innocent enough to ask your parents for that awesome new toy that you’ve been wanting ever since it came out. Let’s say that

Michael Norton, conducts a research on how money can buy happiness. His research found that people who bought stuff for other people, brought them happiness. When people bought stuff for themselves, it didn't bring as much happiness. His research also found that it didn't matter how much money people spent on the person, what matter was that it brought happiness to them.

Mills’ main purpose for this essay was to base it on a principle: “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the absence of pain.” He explains that some pleasures are higher than others. Mill means when he says “It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a swine satisfied” that a person must choose higher pleasures to be happy, I can say that I do agree with his claim based on my own personal experiences.

John Stuart Mill believes in a utilitarian form of happiness, since happiness is a pleasure it should be designed to be useful or practical for the mass majority. Physical forms of pleasure are inferior compared to intellectual and moral pleasures when associated with genuine happiness accorrding to John Stuart Mill. A contributing factor John Stuart Mill added towards Jeremy Bentham impression of happiness was that pleasures should be separated on a qualitative level. John Stuart Mill considered happiness as two forms a higher and a lower form of happiness. According to John Stuart Mill if a person experienced both forms of happiness they would chose the higher form, this form fo thought was completlely against Jeremy Bentham views on happiness.

Another reason why I agree with John Stuart Mill’s is, everyone has a different idea of happiness because if you were to ask your family, friend or anyone, they would have a different answer from everyone because everyone has their own idea of happiness. If someone were to ask me it wouldn't be the same as anyone else's because i'm living a happy life for myself and no one else. Everyone doesn't have one specific thing that makes them happy, it's not the things people receive or buy to feel that they are happy, but in reality just getting things your way and what you want isn't the true value of living a very happy and successful life. John Stuart Mill's illustrates that “without dwelling on it or thinking about it, without forestalling

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.