The Roots of Happiness

In seminar this semester, the readings have frequently included the writings of old pieces of history half forgotten, and the thoughts, opinions, and advice of philosophers who lived before the birth of Christ. A subject that has surfaced often in the readings is that of virtue. What it means to be virtuous, how to live a virtuous life, and virtue’s effect on happiness were addressed in several of the readings. Plato’s Crito, Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, and History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides all describe in some way the relationship between virtue and happiness. In this essay I will analyze the relationship between virtue and happiness in these texts and discuss the similarities and differences in how the two are said to relate in different texts.

The struggle and debate for and about utopias has been going on for thousands of years. In the classic book, Brave New World, the author, Aldous Huxley, explores the aspects of happiness and stability through creating a utopia of his own. Of course, the civilization that he writes about is imperfect in many ways and the story follows an outcast in the society. In the book, Huxley shows us that true universal happiness is unattainable because to live a happy and fulfilled life with a true emotional range of feelings, essentially what it means to be human, people need to have freedom and thought. But in order to have a utopia with never ending happiness, people need stability and control. This makes a utopia an impossible

According to the classic sense, a life full of happiness is a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness. However happiness has been twisted by a secular culture and the classic sense has given away to “pleasurable satisfaction”. Pleasurable satisfaction depends on external circumstances going well. Moreland points out that because of this the modern sense of happiness, “pleasurable satisfaction”, is unstable and varies with life’s circumstances. Pleasurable satisfaction becomes increasingly addictive and enslaving if it becomes the dominant aim of one’s life. By contrast, classical happiness brings freedom and power to life as one ought, as one increasingly becomes a unified person who lives for a cause bigger than one’s self. Western culture has been disillusioned into seeking happiness as their main priority in life. Although, happiness is important, when its importance becomes exaggerated, it leads to a loss of purpose in life, and even depression. What Western cultures need to realize is that true happiness can never be achieved. Over the past 50 years, levels of health, wealth, and liberties have increased, but levels of happiness haven’t.

The idea of “utopia” differs from person to person. Humans thrive on the idea of happiness, love, and being individuals; always striving for something that will make us happier. However, while modern society gives us a lot of things that keep us happy, it is also set up for disappointment and unhappiness. In a way this is the exact thing that makes us value our happiest moments; needless to say these moments are often rare in our society plagued with depression. Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel titled Brave New World challenges the values of the modern world by setting up a world where advanced developments in reproduction, mental manipulation, hypnopædia, and conditioning combine to make a strange utopia where nobody gets sick or unhappy.

…if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specifical and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain? (William James)

Aristotle illustrates happiness or eudomania in his early writings. He saw happiness as the “virtuous activity of the soul in accordance to reason” and it being “the highest end of our desires”. To be happy, one must pursue activities that are directed towards the good, both for oneself  or society as a whole. One’s actions therefore leads to a higher purpose. Happiness however, is not just limited to what is within ourselves, it also has much to do with other goods such as pleasure, wealth and honour. Without these goods, one is never truly happy because it is lacking the necessary goods in his life. One uses these goods as a reasoning for our actions by focusing on the idea that “the good is that to which all

More’s Utopia has upsides and downsides. Though I can’t agree with everything he puts forth, I can say that I would rather live in his Utopia than the other countries he described. Sadly, some of those negative attributes, found in other countries, are found here in America. If I could make changes to my own country, some of his Utopian methods would be a great replacement. His ideas came from a time in history when life was a lot simpler. Had he only known how much of the unnecessary pleasures this world would indulge in, he would’ve had many more examples of how not to live. Though kings of his time enjoyed their gold, provocative artwork, and fancy kingdoms, inventions like the iPhone and obscene internet sites would surely be deemed ridiculous.

Thomas More’s Utopia is a work of ambiguous dualities that forces the reader to question More’s real view on the concept of a utopian society. However, evidence throughout the novel suggests that More did intend Utopia to be the “best state of the commonwealth.” The detailed description of Utopia acts as Mores mode of expressing his humanistic views, commenting on the fundamentals of human nature and the importance of reason and natural law, while gracefully combining the two seemingly conflicting ideals of communism and liberalism. The presence of satirical irony and contradiction clearly defines Utopia as an unobtainable goal, though goal that all societies must pursue nonetheless.

This essay presents an analysis on how Thomas more, from the book of Utopia saw the human nature. The book Utopia was written by Sir, Thomas more and published in the year 1516. Thomas more book ``Utopia`` is considered as one of the influential achievements of western humanism. More`s adventurous travels, the Utopia is considered as a pagan communist state which is governed by intellectuality

The beautiful smile. The joyous laugh. The smiling eyes. The high pitched voice. All describe the characteristics of one being happy. Benjamin Franklin once stated “money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.”. In turn that quote has been a center of debates for centuries. Conversing over the debatable topic in which happiness does or does not extend from money. In a society such as the twentieth century, happiness is evidently reflected by wealth. Therefore, happiness is influenced by the amount of wealth that corresponds to the way one uses their money.

The movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”, is about a movie based on the life of Chris Gardner, who was a salesman with a strong commitment to his family. As Gardner struggles to get ahead, he faces countless adversities and found strength in knowing that he is going through this to make a better life for his son. Although Gardner and his son became homeless, he had a desire to have a better life. He also managed to find moments to help shape and mode his son’s education with teachable moments.

In the pursuit of understanding happiness, there are two forms of theoretical perspectives called hedonic and eudemonic happiness. Each form of happiness represents the determinant of an individuals’ well-being. Hedonic happiness focus more on activities that bring individuals’ pleasure whereas, eudemonic happiness focus on the circumstances that influence people emotions and life’s expectations.

The Renaissance was a period wherein humanist and rationalist ideas spread across Europe. Sir Thomas More was alive to see the rising popularity of humanism and rationalism as well as several events that would lead the populace to embrace these ways of thinking (Cahn). Utopia, written by Sir Thomas More and published in 1516, describes a fictitious country which was founded and created by a man named Utopas. More’s Utopia describes a country that is very different from other states of the time and these differences are purposeful. Utopia is a humanist text because it contains and promotes humanist values and rationalist ideas. Furthermore, it can be interpreted as a criticism of monarchies of More’s time.

What makes for true happiness (eudaemonia)? What is the Good?”). Be sure to reflect on “the Good” for both individuals and societies—the ‘greatest good’. Include the topics of work and wealth in your response.

In this paper, I will argue that Aristotle is right when he says happiness or eudaimonia is when the good life is a happy life, where happiness is the end goal. I will do so first by explaining how Aristotle’s eudaimonia theory found in Nicomachean Ethics is the aim of human life, a theory of happiness that is still relevant today. Secondly I will share the key ingredients in Aristotle’s recipe for happiness and the good life. These include reason and virtues, pleasure and relationships, wealth and success. Lastly, I will explain why I agree with Aristotle that the life of virtue fits best with the human life. That eudaimonia is the pursuit of happiness, the goal that encompasses the totality of one’s life.