The Direction of Happiness and the Experience Machine - Essay Example

The Direction of Happiness and the Experience Machine There is a general consensus among most philosophers that the only wholly valued thing for its own intrinsic good is happiness. All other things that people perceive to be good are so-called because of their connection to happiness. This is because happiness does not have to lead to anything else for it to be good. Rather, people are more concerned with the total amount, or entirety, of happiness in their lives, giving rise to the question as to whether happiness is equally as good as meaningfulness. In his argument against hedonism, philosopher Robert Nozick used the thought experiments based on “the direction of happiness” and “the experience machine” as he attempted to answer this question. The notion of hedonism, which is manifested by the belief that pleasure should be the ultimate purpose of life, disregards the provisions of a meaningful life. By showing that there are more values to life than happiness, this paper will answer the two thought experiments and discuss what happiness is and whether a happy life is the same thing as a meaningful life. Nozick uses the model of a machine capable of giving people the experience of whatever their desires and pleasures are, which cannot be distinguished from those that can be experienced apart from such machines. People would have a choice to live inside the machine and experience all their pleasures or outside in a lower degree of pleasure. Under such circumstances, where hedonism would opine that the sole intrinsic value is pleasure, most people would choose to remain plugged in to the experience machine. That would show a preference of a more pleasant but less meaningful life than a less pleasant and more meaningful one. However, according to the concept of direction of happiness, the amount of happiness in different lives is exactly the same, only that one tends to slope upwards with increasing happiness while the other slopes downwards with declining happiness. Mistakenly, people would still choose the life with happiness that slopes upwards. It is a mistaken choice because people still care and are concerned about their connection with reality, and it is the factor that the experience machine lacks. People still want their experiences to develop from reality rather than fantasy even if both feel the same. From this, it can be said that what people ultimately seek in life are not merely feelings of pleasure, but also to be in a particular way. Feelings of happiness and pleasure are desirable but not enough. People would want to go beyond the simple experience of doing things and actually do them. Therefore, there are more values than happiness and experiences of doing things. The experiences of the experience machine only limit people to their own man-made realities that are constructed within the confines of their perceived important values. Although the experiences of reality may be simulated by the experience machine, no contact is made with deeper and meaningful reality. When one envisages an experience machine and then appreciate that they would not use it, they learn that there are other things that matter more than experiences. The definition of happiness provides that it must contain meaning, pleasure and engagement. The part of meaning is in reference to the contribution to a broader cause while pleasure comprises the part of feeling good. Although a happy life and meaningful life have overlapping aspects, they are fundamentally distinct and a happy life is not necessarily a meaningful one. Happiness may occur as either or both emotional and mental well-being that is characterized by pleasant and positive feelings, which have different meanings to different people because it is quite a subjective matter. It can be a spontaneous feeling caused by positive emotions and last for a moment, as well as a continuous one. The overlap between a happy and meaningful life is mainly manifested by the fact that meaningfulness is among the causal factors correlated with happiness. However, a happy life is not the same as a meaningful life. Many causes of happiness are known, both legitimate and illegitimate, but there is no authenticated means of improving it in a meaningful way. When a person’s needs and wants are met and satisfied, happiness considerably grows but that remains significantly irrelevant to the concept of meaningfulness. It is a basic instinct to pursue the enjoyment of needs and wants, which generally results in states of positive feelings. On the other hand, when those needs are frustrated, negative feelings of unhappiness set in. Essentially, happiness becomes a natural phenomenon. A happy life differs from a meaningful life because a happy life is largely oriented to the present while meaningfulness draws its attributes from the integration of the present, past and future. This can be explained by the association of meaningfulness with a reflection on the past and strategizing for the future, and how that bears no significance on happiness. Happy people are characteristically introverts, whereas those drawing meaningfulness from life are extroverts. From this observation, it is worth noting that it is true one can have both feelings of happiness and meaningfulness, since the feelings supplement each other, but it becomes necessary to choose one after reaching a certain point. When happiness is viewed as natural, meaningfulness will, then, be dependent on culture. Every existing culture makes use of language to facilitate the use of meanings as well as communicate them. A broad framework of concepts brings about the being of languages, and that framework is engrained in the interlaced networks of meaning that are built and learned over many subsequent generations. To appraise how meaningful a person’s life is will then use the symbols which are transmitted culturally through language and evaluate their life with regards to meanings, values and purposes, which are learned through culture. This, therefore, links meaning to the cultural identity of people more than it links it to happiness. Further, it makes meaningfulness of life more of a cultural web than personal, which is shaped through cooperative efforts of many generations. When the meaningfulness of live is an individual’s, then it derives from the larger web of the culture. An example can further be used to show the difference between a happy and meaningful life. For instance, the absence of ill health or disease is universally recognized as a basic desire. The degree to which people perceive themselves to be healthy contributes positively their happiness but has no relevance to the meaningfulness of their lives. This is because both sick and health people can show equal meaningfulness in their lives, but the healthy ones will definitely be happier than the unhealthy. In conclusion, it is evident that happiness is not the only thing human beings seek in life. An unhappy but meaningful life would be more preferable than meaningless and happy one. This makes hedonism false, because meaningfulness is shown to have more value than happiness. Pleasurable experiences may lead to happiness, but more meaning would be drawn from the act of doing things in order to realize the values associated with them. A happy person, though with more complexity, would resemble an animal whereas, on the other hand, meaningfulness would point to activities that are distinctively more human like self expressions and thoughts that integrate the present, past and future. In their search and pursuit of happiness, humans inadvertently resemble many different creatures; however, the striving for meaning is the fundamental factor that makes them uniquely human. Interpersonal differences give happiness and meaning their non-identical natures through the way their connections are implemented socially. Staying connected socially is significant for both happy and meaningful lives, but take on different focus and direction. Happiness is engrained in the benefits received from others whereas meaningfulness derives from the benefits extended to others. Works Cited Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974. Print. Read More