As the third and last component of what determines the good life, the consequences of one’s actions are also crucial to the good life. Emphasizing consequences is important because an action can have either positive or negative consequences, which it a main factor when it comes to analyzing an action and branding it good or bad. If an action yields positive consequences, it is one step closer to being labeled a good action; if an action yields negative consequences, it is one step closer to being labeled a bad action. This is a critical area of focus because the consequences of an action heavily sway whether the overall action was good or bad, in the end also swaying how good or bad a person is. Just as with intent and actual action, the relationship …show more content…
The utilitarian approach to ethics is a useful for it notes the importance of having happiness as an end goal. According to Mill, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill 7). Here we see that when an action considered right will promote happiness, thus making the action good; an action considered wrong will produce the opposite of happiness, thus making the action bad. For Mill, the consequences of an action determine whether the action is defined as a “right” or a “wrong” action, and these actions will produce either “good” or “bad” results. When positive consequences occur, it is because the right action produced good results; when negative consequences occur, it is because the wrong action produced bad results. In order for one to achieve happiness, good results must happen, meaning positive consequences must take place. If bad results happen instead, then negative consequences will take place and happiness will not be achieved. It is vital that people produce positive consequences so that they can achieve happiness, for once happiness is achieved then satisfaction with one’s life will also occur. The combination of reaching happiness and satisfaction with one’s life will create the desired outcome of the good …show more content…
The end goal of putting so much attention into intent, action, and consequences is to achieve this happiness for through this happiness one can feel truly satisfied with where they are in life. Once one is satisfied with their life, one has reached ultimate happiness, for through ultimate happiness comes satisfaction. Reaching ultimate happiness and satisfaction is crucial because it signifies that one has reached the good life. It is through the dedication to good intent, correct actions, and positive consequences that one can accomplish the good life. Each aspect of the good life affects and impacts the other, making each aspect just as important as the others. The process to reaching the good life goes in a somewhat step-by-step order to ensure that one reaches the end goal. One must start with having good intent, then the good intent influences the taking of correct actions, and then these correct actions produce positive consequences. The combination of these three steps results in a person with a high level of goodness, and this superior goodness makes said person feel happy with themselves and their life, achieving ultimate happiness. After hitting ultimate happiness, a person feels satisfied with their life, and the mix of ultimate happiness and satisfaction with one’s life is what leads one to reach the
The struggle in finding what the good life is and maximizing its existence can be ameliorated by Capital T-Truth. Capital T-Truth can bide one’s time to reach and enjoy it the good life. “Capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head” (8). Clearly wanting to shoot one’s self in the head is not the good life and living a life where one has the option to momentarily stick their head in the sand to remain happy is undoubtedly superior than giving into extrinsic
The will and perseverance of a person can get the through the hardest and most difficult of times. The Call of the Wild is an adventure fiction novel by Jack London. The novel gives and insight into human nature. Set during the Yukon gold rush the Call of the wild tells the story of Buck. Buck ,a dog from Southern California, who is kidnaped and sold on the blackmarket to a sled team in Alaska. Perseverance play a big part in buck’s journey throughout the novel.
Some people consider freedom the meaning of the good life. Thoreau teaches that the good life is “freedom from desire.” To have a good life people must be free to make their own choices and mistakes. However, other people have a different opinion about the good life—Andrew Carnegie believes people can find the good life through success and wealth. Yet still, others want neither of these, choosing instead to stay innocent with no responsibilities like Adam and Eve, free from decisions and the stresses of everyday life. Another view is Freud’s Pleasure Principle that suggests people are interested only in fun and doing whatever they want all the time. Moreover, these people don’t want to worry about anything else.
For most of us, achieving some state of Happiness is a core objective. Indeed, in a great many of the philosophical musings on the very purpose of our lives here on Earth will tend to focus on the importance of achieving happiness, of sharing happiness and of bringing happiness to others. It is therefore reasonable to propose the knee-jerk response that happiness is the end in and of itself. However, as Kant asserts, this is an incomplete understanding of our supposed purpose here. As the 18th Century German philosopher asserts, happiness lived without the principle of good will, can have the capacity to be a rather unsavory force. According to Kant, in fact, this concept of good will is a core determinant as to whether the characteristics by which we can be defined may be considered virtues or vices. Kant argues that this truth "holds with gifts of fortune; power, riches, honor, even health, and that complete well-being and contentment with one's condition which is called happiness make for pride and often hereby even arrogance, unless there is a good will to correct their influence on the mind and herewith also to rectify the whole principle of action and make it universally comfortable to its end." (Kant, p. 7) This principle underlies the initial rejection of the assumption that Happiness, however formulated, is the
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.
Happiness could be seen as the goal for humanity, which is what causes the world to move forward. In each person’s unique way, they would be attempting to reach happiness, and this would cause humanity to progress. However, each person cannot know what the true form of happiness really is, and can only strive to what they think to be the ultimate idea of happiness. Different people would go about attempting to be happy in different ways, and some of these ways would be more successful than others. A person who was raised in a family with certain morals and beliefs may experience happiness by following strict rules set by the family, while another may find happiness by breaking those same rules. In the interpretation for the perfect happiness, there is diversity as to how the happiness could be achieved.
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
Enlightenment is the understanding of social life and the basics of human nature through our own logic. Humans have the ability to educate themselves and make progress in their own life decisions. Hence the change of human knowledge, such as the ability to make an understanding of reason and logic. For instance, when having faith in solving society’s problems and to encourage change to better the publics eye. Enlightenment, is to inform and convince others of one’s ideas. For an example, religion is something to inform people to and to “enlighten” them to understand and believe or even convince of the idea of religion.
Truthfully, I never gave much thought to what effect science had or has on art. Even with my background being principally in the Architecture and Design, it was always just numbers to me. Art to me is something that is subjective at best, I love the craftsman style that doesn’t mean everybody does. Below is my interpretation of this week’s readings.
Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time created an idea that happiness is the ultimate end goal. This world renowned philosopher argues that exercising a fulfilling life will lead to happiness. Likewise, happiness is said to be the ultimate end goal of all activities in life. Basically, Aristotle portrays every activity as a subordinate to becoming happy. He argues that being self sufficient, and leading a fulfilling life will create happiness through virtue. A virtuous person is noble and possess the ability to rationalize. In order to be noble one must posses the ability to create equilibrium of the soul. That is, staying within the mean. Similar to the mean, Aristotle depicts
Utilitarianism, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, states that the morality of an action should be judged based on the extent to which it produces happiness, or the opposite of happiness—an action is good as long as the result is happiness, and deemed bad if it results in pain. A clearer understanding of what Utilitarianism is can be gained by John Stuart Mill’s characterization of what it is not. He states, “I believe that the very imperfect notion ordinarily formed of its meaning, is the chief obstacle which impedes its reception; and that could it be cleared, even from only the grosser misconceptions, the question would be greatly simplified, and a large proportion of its difficulties removed” (Mill, 2007, p. 4). In defining Utilitarianism, Mill dispels common misconceptions that are held about Utilitarianism in order to give the reader a clearer understanding of the doctrine and the rationales that support it.
Essentially, seeking happiness is necessary in life. We often hope to find happiness from other people, other things around us and forget that we can create it by ourselves. The novel “The happiness project” by Gretchen Rubin is sufficient evidence. The author states, “I am happy – but I’m not as happy as I should be.”(13) Then she started a project within a year to change her life and seek for a happier life. By making a list of things she has to do in the next twelve months, the author have done many things which affects her “Vitality” (1), her “Marriage” (38), her “Leisure” (112), her “Friendship” (141),etc. positively so that she can achieve her goal, which is a life full filed of happiness as she dreamed before. We can also do that. We know that if everyone of us set a goal and live purposely, we are all happy. However, we can be happier if we know how to change ourselves on the right way. We can make ourselves happy by doing simple things in our everyday life.
Happiness… It could be said that there is no one in this whole wide world who does not want to be happy. We live every single day in hope to find happiness, which also known as pursuit of happiness. We strive to bring happiness in our life. Nonetheless, along the journey to find happiness, some people stumble and find themselves unhappy instead. One might question why, but actually we all have different value and understanding to describe happiness. Therefore, we have our own unique approach to pursue happiness and there is no telling to the exact cause of our wrongs and errors in the process. What might have been the cause, which most people hardly notice, is their perception of happiness. There are three most common misconception of happiness that lead to unhappy life.
If you asked a random person on the street “what is a good person?” or “what is the good life?” you would likely receive a different answer from everyone. These answers would be different because everyone has their own ideas and opinions of what the answers should be. For many, a good person is someone who lives a good life, is a Christian, or someone who helps other individuals. For some, a good person might be someone who puts others first and someone who is reliable. The same applies to the answers you would receive from “what is the good life?” Just like everyone had different opinions on what a good person is, they will also have different opinions on what the good life is. You might get answers ranging from spending time with one’s family to having a lot of money. These answers vary depending on the individuals values and world view. For some individuals this desire for money can cause them to act on it, driving them to steal in order to gain happiness. Bronk supports this idea by stating, “Our answers guide our actions, influence our decisions, and inspire our dreams” (2008, p.713). This paper will discuss how philosophers believe everyone should live and what kind of people we should be, what a good person is, what the good life is, and what the relationship between goodness and human reality is.
It is common sense that all the human beings would like to live a happy life and they will spare no efforts in order to realize the purpose of really living a happy life in the end. However, different people have different definitions toward what a happy life is and they tend to have different standards as for how a life is that can be regarded as a happy life. There is no doubt that people will then try different means in order to pursue a happy life based on their definition toward what a happy life is. Therefore, the following will talk about the pursuit of a happy life from the perspectives of both Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness and Viktor E. Frankl in Man’s Searching for Meaning, during which the experiences of some characters from the film Forrest Gump will be applied as evidence. Generally speaking, the pursuit of a happy life in the minds of Dalai Lama and Viktor E. Frankl can be achieved via experiencing sufferings and adversity. It is hoped that this analysis can help people understand what a happy is from a different point of view.