Philosophy of Happiness - Essay Example

Philosophy of happiness Introduction Happiness is a psychological and emotional in human beings that ischaracterized with pleasant feelings and contentment that vary depending on the source and an individual’s character. Happiness is used as a manifestation of different states of the human mind and represents a change from the normal feeling to one that is characterized with an inner elation and joy. Due to its role in the emotional and mental state of human beings, the pursuit of happiness is considered as the sole reason for a number of activities undertaken by human beings (Bergsma & Ardelt, 2012). This explains the preoccupation of great Greek philosophers with the position of happiness in human beings and the elements of life that create this mental state of mind. The philosophy of happiness is an area of philosophical discourse that examines the art of happiness and the position it plays it human beings. Different philosophers, ancient, classical and modern discussed the role of happiness in human development including the likes of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Ludwig Marcuse among others. This paper will therefore examine different approaches and perceptions on happiness and how it has affected human development, religion, economic perspective among others in the process of acquiring it (Goodman, 2014). Philosophical views on happiness Different philosophers had different perceptions and arguments towards happiness and the process of acquiring it in one’s lifetime. According to Aristotle, happiness remains the ultimate aim of every human being as depicted through his or her actions and thoughts. A number of things are considered valuable in human beings including the acquisition of wealth, knowledge and the courage to face challenges. However, most of these man’s desired are valued relative to other things in life, except happiness that is considered valuable but in isolation. According to Augustine, happiness is the supreme good that every single human being in the planet works towards achieving at any given point in time (Myers, 2008). It is therefore the standard upon which other achievements in life including wealth, education and courage is measured. Seeking happiness is done for its individual sake and it’s never a means to an end which once achieved marks the end of the struggle. Pursuit of happiness is considered as a lifetime ventures that only ends when death comes knocking and not when wealth, love, religion or other forms of satisfactions are acquired (Miller, 2010). According to Augustine, whoever wants to be happy must be immortal and not afraid of death as whosoever is afraid of death cannot achieve meaningful happiness. However, other philosophers who argue that death cannot be viewed as the only means to happiness without eliminating the possibility of reincarnation have opposed this position. Thomas Aquinas agrees with the positions taken by both Aristotle and Augustine that happiness is the ultimate endeavor in every human dream. As a result, every single person must be willing to compromise other aspects of their dreams to achieve the ultimate goal which is happiness. John Stuart Mill adopted a position that was against the position taken by Bentham in his utilitarianism treatise that he wrote in his early 50s (Cigman, 2014). To Mills, many people adopted the perception that there is no higher end in life apart from achieving pleasure and happiness. To him, this is foolish as human beings share the same faculties with animals and their end to happiness cannot be higher than that of animals. Based on his arguments, some kings of pleasure and sources of happiness are more desirable as compared to others and this falls under the utility treatise. Q.9: Religiosity and happiness A lot of research has been done to establish the relationship between idea of religiousness and happiness. The research conducted has tried to show the relationship between religious faith and happiness. However, the results have shown that faith per se has no effect on one’s happiness (Myers, 2008) In 1982, a religious poll was conducted in America, Gallup poll which involved two questions; God loves me even though I do not all the time please him and my religious faith is the most important influence in my life. Respondents who answered yes to both the two questions were twice as most likely to report being very happy as those who did not. In 2006, the National Opinion Research Centre conducted a survey and discovered that people who claimed that they were “extremely close to God”, only 40 per cent said that they were very happy. On the other hand, only 21 percent of those who “were not very close” said they were being very happy and of those who were, “not close at all” only 24 percent said that they being very happy. In the same year, the Pew survey depicted that those who frequently attended church were twice as likely to say that they were being very happy (Myers, 2008). The above surveys suggest that there is high possibility that if one goes to church regularly, he more likely to be happier compared to someone who does not attend church. A rational human being who hears this is likely to consider start attending church as this seems to increase happiness. Pascal has put forward three arguments for having faith in God: Do not believe: If there is existence of God then you have eternal happiness or if not status quo. Pascal contends that we cannot be sure of God’s existence; therefore, we may as well believe, as not doing so could bring severe results, where to do so is merely minor inconvenience. It is therefore good practice to attend church for there is high chance that this will make us happier and there is nothing to lose.  David Myers in his article, Religion and Human Flourishing, presents several ideas. His first idea is shows that the current social environment is one of social individualism. This shows that the old social support systems in the local community have changed or are no longer working. People who attend church have a great sense of that social support. People who go to church have the chance of sharing their problems, offer support and be in good company of similar people. This kind of interaction is an uplifting experience and usually the participants are happy (Myers, 2008). People who belief in Good have a feeling that they have a superior being as compared to themselves. They perceive themselves to be a part in a big glorious plan as guide by their specific deity. Through this they have a purpose in life and have every reason to wake up and continue with their business. They have less chance of falling into experiential anxiety or nihilism, which leads to unhappiness (Vanier, 2012). Many teachings by majority of the religions suggest that human beings are perfect the way they are and God accepts them the way they are. This makes them comfortable due to the reason that they are accepted the way they are. This creates a barrier between themselves and modern social anticipations of the ‘perfect body’, which is responsible for happiness. In addition, there is the advancement of positive virtues and activities where by majority of the religions teach values like appreciation, humility, forgiveness and commiseration. This kind of religious education makes the followers live and practice these positive virtues hence making them gain the feedback benefits from people around them. For instance, they feel good when they help the less fortunate in the society. If put into practice these activities and virtues can significantly increase one’s happiness (Feldman, 2010). The above accounts do not depend on having a religious faith. People in the secular world can still go through the four elements put forward in the above discussions. If the above explanations are true, then it is rightful to duplicate these elements to make people happier whether they have religious beliefs or not and can enjoy the fruits and report that they have increased happiness. The surveys, which lead these results, show that people who frequently go to church enjoy the gains in happiness. These kinds of people are active in church and do not only attend church during holidays such as Christmas and always believe in God. True believers have an intrinsic faith and such a state cannot be achieved by normal ways like education. A person can start attending church every week but without having the moment of revelation then they cannot get happiness as reported by people with intrinsic faith (Ashkanasy, 2011). One possible distortion with these surveys is that individuals who are very religious could have a tendency to report a higher level of happiness even when they are as happy as the non-believer near them. It can be concluded that these variations should wash out over huge populations and this is seen to bring a normalization effect. However, the religious population is measured separately with the non-religious people and in the event where one population will have natural tendency to over expand its view and measurement of happiness, the range of the value will remain high despite the fact that the feeling may remain the same. In most cases, a good fraction of the population will agree with the variations as depicted in such a result (McMahon, 2010). There are high chances that individuals of true faith who exercise their religion very frequently are happier than less or non-religious people. This is clearly depicted by data obtained by many of the surveys, which have proposed this. However, there could be other ways through which non-religious people can attain the same levels of happiness without having to attend church. The accounts of Meyer taken with measurement troubles make the results of the surveys exaggerated of the correct state of affairs. There being a difficulty to prove to a secular person that going to church will increase happiness then there is no reason of believing the explanations. Q.11: Measurement of happiness The determination of the level of happiness has led to the argument on whether the extent of happiness can actually be quantified based on certain scales. It is believed that the quantification of happiness can be as difficult as netting the elusive butterflies in the field. Within the pursuit of happiness discourse, scientific collection and study of data on subjective wellbeing and happiness was done as a means of quantifying happiness. To most people, happiness is spiritual, individual based and difficult to give an empirical definition and measurement as other aspects of human beings (Sahraian, Gholami, Javadpour & Omidvar, 2013). The challenge with measurement of happiness rests in the fact that people in different contrasting situations claim to be happy based on their perception and view. A Buddhist monk with no material possession except for the robe and a city financier with massive wealth in different parts of the world would all claim happiness. This makes material wealth and possession a poor way measuring individual satisfaction and happiness. In the arguments of American, British and French leaders, the general happiness of the population can be measured based on the economic indicators (Bok, 2011). The individual experiences of the citizens can be aggregated into a single happiness index that will show the level of happiness and satisfaction in the countries. The maximization of happiness has consumed the minds of great philosophers like Socrates, Bentham and Mill who provided a description of pleasure and happiness and attempted to provide a quantification of this emotional aspect of life. The elusive process of measuring happiness within the public has been a controversial process since the kingdom of Bhutan whose desire to achieve a gross national happiness failed due to the inability to quantify the level of happiness that was acquired (Culp, 2013). This is because one gets rid of all undesirable thoughts about one another, does not hate anything or get horrible thoughts that impact negatively on my emotions. Being happy means being oneself and appreciating who you are, looking at ones good qualities and feeling good about others hence prevention of jealousy. Happiness means avoiding jealousy and taking care of oneself and helping other people. Appreciating positive qualities and beauty of others not compare oneself with others (Topping, 2012). To avoid jealousy means happiness since it one develops their own talents, thinking positively, building own self-esteem and relating to people who bring out the best in oneself. I therefore believe that avoiding jealousy clearly brings about happiness and help one develop positively spiritually, emotionally and physically. A good relationship with friends means happiness and help in avoiding jealousy as one gets help from friends. Positive interactions with friends benefit one from social network rather than being jealous and significantly become happier hence maintaining these relationships (Bok, 2011). Being grateful to what you have brings happiness and this means one appreciates what they already have rather than searching for what they don’t have. Happiness brings a sense of self-appreciation in life hence focus positive viewing of things in is because one thinks positively on what they have and this brings happiness (Bok, 2011). This is important because it makes one healthier emotionally which leads to happiness. If one tends to worry in their lives they become unhealthy and this leads to illnesses thus affecting them negatively and end up being unhappy. This can be prevented by thinking positively of what you have and appreciating it (Eichhorn, 2012). Positivity boosts ones spirits, which leads to happiness while negativity on the other hand lowers one’s self-esteem that leads to sadness. Always focussing and looking on the positive part of some rather than one the bad part of it will make one happy. Lack of happiness will be brought about by focussing on what you don’t have in life and even if one gets these things they will not be happy because they will be afraid of losing them (Abdel-Khalek, 2014). For one to be happy, they have to appreciate what they have rather than wasting their energies on what they are lacking in life. You consider yourself happy when you appreciate what you have since many people are in need of whatever you have and can do anything to have it so they tend to be unhappy. References Abdel-Khalek, AM 2014, Happiness, health, and religiosity: significant associations among Lebanese adolescents, Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17, 1, pp. 30-38 Ashkanasy, NM 2011, International Happiness: A Multilevel Perspective, Academy Of Management Perspectives, 25, 1, pp. 23-29. Bergsma, A, & Ardelt, M 2012, Self-Reported Wisdom and Happiness: An Empirical Investigation, Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, 3, pp. 481-499. Bok, D 2011, The politics of happiness: What government can learn from the new research on Well-Being, Princeton University Press. Cigman, R 2014, Happiness Rich and Poor: Lessons from Philosophy and Literature, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48, 2, pp. 308-322. Culp, J 2013, Justice, Happiness, and the Sensible Knave: Humes Incomplete Defence of the Just Life, Review Of Politics, 75, 2, pp. 193-219. Eichhorn, J 2012, Happiness for Believers? Contextualizing the Effects of Religiosity on Life-Satisfaction, European Sociological Review, 28, 5, pp. 583-593 Feldman, F 2010, On the Philosophical Implications of Empirical Research on Happiness, Social Research, 77, 2, pp. 625-658. Goodman, C 2014, Buddhism, naturalism, and the pursuit of happiness, Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science, 49, 1, pp. 220-230. Holowchak, M 2004, Happiness and Greek Ethical Thought [Electronic Resource] / M. Andrew Holowchak, London McMahon, D.M 2010, What Does the Ideal of Happiness Mean?’ Social Research, 77, 2, pp. 469-490. Miller, J 2010, A Distinction Regarding Happiness in Ancient Philosophy, Social Research, 77, 2, pp. 595-624. Myers, D 2008, Religion and human flourishing, New York: the Guilford press Sahraian, A, Gholami, A, Javadpour, A, & Omidvar, B 2013, Association between Religiosity and Happiness among a Group of Muslim Undergraduate Students, Journal of Religion & Health, 52, 2, pp. 450-453. Topping, R 2012, Happiness and Wisdom: Augustines Early Theology of Education, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. Vanier, J 2012, Made For Happiness: Discovering The Meaning Of Life With Aristotle, Toronto: House of Anansi Press. Read More