How Does John Stuart Mill Define Happiness

Although happiness itself seems to be desirable among people, when it comes to overall topic, most people would agree that being truly happy is a goal they strive for but fail to understand what that actually means. John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and author, argues that one can only be happy if they focus something aside from their own happiness, like helping friends and family or the community. While I agree with Mill’s view on not over-occupying ourselves with the need to be happy, I have to add that focusing on one’s own happiness is also a necessity. In my view, people can only give so much to others so focusing on friends and family can help find a healthy balance in their life.
Mill’s theory of focusing on happiness indirectly is extremely useful because it brings attention to the problem of the humankind needing to be happy but not realizing it’s not something one can simply find, it’s a way of life that affects more than just a single person at a time. In the article, “In Pursuit of Unhappiness”, Mill states, “Those are only happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of
Ed Diener, Ph.D in psychology, professor, and author, writes that all the happiest people interviewed had close family or friends. In other words, having a close family and or friends can make a big difference in a person’s life. In a similar example, a study of the happiness of 66 males and females between the ages of 11-19 was conducted by Center for Youth Studies to determine what made the youth the most happy. Researchers found that family, with an average response of 4.7 made the youth the most happy and friends came in as the second most significant factor at a 5.35 response. Thus, between both sets of data, it is shown that family and friends are very influential in one’s