Readings are from Robert Nozick's The Examined Life - Essay Example

The philosopher offers to two of lives with the same amount of happiness. The first (A) slopes upwards with an increasingly amount of happiness as the individual ages while the second (B) slopes downwards with a decreasingly amount of happiness as the individual ages. In this case, Nozick is of the opinion that most people would prefer (A) over (B) despite the fact that all have an equal amount of happiness. Nozick asserts that (A) lives with the expectation of better things and more happiness in the future while (B) lives with the memories of the past happiness though his happiness continues to decline with age.

Nozick concludes that human beings want happiness to have direction and contours as they age this is because people expect good things in the future (Nozick 86). In the second thought experiment of the experiment machine, Nozick demonstrates that pleasure does not lead to happiness. Nozick questions whether human beings would be willing to be hooked up in technology advances whereby virtual reality machines would allow them feel any experience they wish. According to his experiment, people would not be willing to remain in the machine since it is not real and lacks connection with reality matters such as growing.

These feelings of experiment machine would only be false evaluations. According to Nozick, people can be happy for seeing numerous things realized such as World Peace thus feelings are directed connected to individual values that are realized such as academic success (Nozick 99). Happiness is a state of consciousness rather than illusions. Nozick focuses on the reality principle by asserting that happiness is seeing that something has been accomplished. Happiness is focusing at one moment in life that your life is better like what people feel when taking a walk.

The third form is focusing on the whole life through reflection on the standard of life that an individual hoped to live. Happiness will entail emotions on events such as friend’s promotion in the workplace. Happiness is based on individual evaluations and beliefs concerning the future, the world, and prospects of success based on standards of expectations. Happiness is more than an emotional response (Nozick 102). Nozick demonstrates this using direction of happiness and experience machine.

People would start their life unhappy but end it happy. People desire to live a meaningful life and undergo real experiences in their lives. For a person still hooked up to the experiment machine, being happy would not be the same as having a meaningful life. Living a meaningful life will entail having a positive effect on the surrounding people like family members and society. For one to have a meaningful life, repeated good experiences must be balanced with negative experiences. If people lived in the experiment machine, they would never have any opportunity to grow or establish any meaningful relationships with others.

According to Nozick, experiment machine would enable the individual to have the life desires and pleasures they wish but they would incur some costs since they would need to sacrifice their physical bodies in order to enter in the imaginative world that is reality. Nozick states that human beings should not use such machines since they are capable of living a meaningful life, but the machines destroy the idea of self as well as the ability to establish relationships with others (Nozick 101). Nozick advocates assert that human beings are