Summary Of Bertrand Russell's The Conquest Of Happiness

When having good experiences, most people, if asked, would claim that they feel happy. However, if one decided to ask Martha Nussbaum, author of “Who is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy Poses Questions to Psychology,” she would most likely respond that she was feeling pleasured. In her article, she draws a restrictive line between pleasure and happiness. She introduces the viewpoints of many intellectuals who have spoken on the definition of happiness, and then offers her own opinions in regards to theirs. Her thoughts generally align with those of Aristotle, Plato, and the ancient Greek thinkers – the very ones she spent much of her higher education studying. Her main ideas, that happiness is too complex to be concretely defined and that pleasure is a feeling that we may experience while doing certain things, are well-explained and supported. She offers the idea that happiness is not an emotion – rather, it is a state of being that we should all hope to attain as a result of self-reflection. Nussbaum continually counters the beliefs proposed by psychologists, like the notion that happiness is a one-note feeling, or the concept that happiness is only influenced by positive emotions. In my essay, I will explain how Martha Nussbaum’s explanation of the complexities of happiness is superior, as well as how the ideas of two psychologists, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Daniel Gilbert, are faulty and disreputable. However, it is important to note that just because Nussbaum is the least wrong

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.

B. Explanation of allusion: Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, mathematician and social critic who was involved in the Anglo-American philosophy movement. He campaigned for peace and wrote on social, political, and moral subjects publishing 70 books and around 2,000 articles. In 1890, Russell switched his focus from mathematics to philosophy. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. He spent

Within The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, he mentions that there are two ancient truths concerning how the mind works. The first truth is the foundational idea of the book: the mind is divided into parts that sometimes conflict with each other. The second truth is Shakespeare’s idea about how “thinking makes it so.” (or, as Buddha said, “Our life is the creation of our mind.”) Like a rider, on the back of an elephant, the conscious, reasoning part of the mind has only limited control of what the elephant does. Nowadays, we know the cause of these divisions, and a few ways to help the rider and the elephant work as a better team. We can improve this ancient idea today by explaining why most people’s minds have a bias toward seeing threats and engaging in useless worry. To change this bias, we can use three techniques to increase happiness, one ancient, and two very new.

In “Happiness: Enough Already,” Sharon Begley argues that happiness is overrated and it should not always be a priority in your life.

Robert Waldinger´s purpose is to share the lessons he has learned on what makes a happier and more fulfilling lifestyle. Most people believe that the key to a more gratifying life could only come from materialistic items and fame. However, Waldinger attempts to refute this claim by sharing the results that he has gathered from conducting a 75 year old study on happiness.

People travel through life with what seems like a single goal: to be happy. This may seem like a selfish way to live, however this lone objective is the motivation behind nearly all actions. Even seemingly selfless deeds make people feel better about themselves. That warm feeling experienced while doing charitable acts can be described as happiness. But what is authentic happiness? There is an endless possibility of answers to this question, and man seems to be always searching for the solution. Although one may reach his or her goals, there is always still something one strives for in order to be happy. In the book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert takes the reader through

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, mathematician, and political activist. He studied philosophy and mathematics in college and was hired to give lectures at Trinity College. When World War I began, so did his political activism. In 1918, he wrote an article criticising the England’s part in the War and promoting peace. As a result, he was sent jail and removed from his position at Trinity. After he was released from jail, he began to travel the world giving lectures, and was eventually accepted back to Trinity. In 1950, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature and continued to give lectures on math and philosophy until his death in 1970. Throughout his life, he argued that war only causes more problems and that peace is the best solution.

Authored by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Happiness Revisited” is a study on happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi defines happiness in terms of how we achieve it. He suggests that people achieve happiness “not by trying to look for it directly” (609) but by looking for it directly. He also added that by “achieving control over the contents of our consciousness” (609), a circuitous path begins, thus the beginning of achieving happiness. Further, Csikszentmihalyi stated that just like happiness, success is not to be pursued but ensued. This statement is ideally illustrated by Viktor Frankl’s book on Man’s Search for meaning: “Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it”(609).

The most universal goal every human has in common is the pursuit of happiness or “creation or construction of happiness” (Achor, 78). To be able to fulfill this wish of becoming happy, people often think the key to achieving happiness is success. In the book, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, he debunks this theory of success leading to happiness by illustrating the reverse theory of success. Through dozens of studies and experiments as forms of evidence, the author argues that an individual needs to achieve happiness in order to be truly successful. Achor 's argument is valid in that happiness should come before success because there is a clear advantage to being successful in an individual’s work life, personal sphere, and liveliness if they are happy first and foremost.

    Dan Goldberg, a keynote speaker and coach, once wrote “Happiness is a state of considerable pleasure and cheer... Contentment is different. It is a feeling of peace with one's self and one's life, an ease of mind and satisfaction with one's state of being.” We see many examples of different variations of this in both the real world and in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. We see characters who are happy but not content, characters who are content but definitely not happy and finally we see people that are fully bathed in both happiness and contentment.

The philosopher Aristotle once wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” This famous quote compels people to question the significance of their joy, and whether it truly represents purposeful lives they want to live. Ray Bradbury, a contemporary author, also tackles this question in his book, Fahrenheit 451, which deals heavily with society's view of happiness in the future. Through several main characters, Bradbury portrays the two branches of happiness: one as a lifeless path, heading nowhere, seeking no worry, while the other embraces pure human experience intertwined together to reveal truth and knowledge.

Some of the most common themes in contemporary biographical films revolve around social life as well as the accompanying problems that living in today's society entails. By making connections to individual personal lives, these films help most people make sense of the world in which they live. In this regard, this paper focuses on the film, The Pursuit of Happyness outlining various cultural issues as well as problems faced by the starring; Will Smith playing Chris Gardner in the movie. Moreover, the paper discusses how such factual films reflect and create popular ideas about social problems.

The world seems to be a dark and unforgiving place, but happiness is hidden within. It is found in a beautiful view, an uplifting song, or a compliment from a friend. According to the Ted Talk video, The Habits of Happiness, Matthieu Ricard claims that everyone “has a deep, profound desire for well-being or happiness”(Ricard 2:39). Ricard uses the three techniques of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to captivate and move his audience. With the use of metaphors, personal experiences, and even graphs Matthieu explained to his audience the full force and perception of the bendable word that is happiness. This Ted Talk dove into philosophical meaning on just how to achieve well-being, without having everything in the world.

Russell was a leader in the revival of the philosophy of empiricism in the large field of epistemology. He wrote Our Knowledge of the External World (1914), The Analysis of Matter (1927) and Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits (1948). He also wrote Principles of mathematics (1903), Principia Mathematica (with A.N. Whitehead; three volumes, 1910 – 1913), and Introduction to mathematical Philosophy (1919).