Unit 4 Happiness Assignment Analysis
Unit 4 Happiness Assignment
Unisa Jaffa
Kaplan University
HU300 – 10 Art and Humanities
Prof Crystal Hofegartner
The first person that I interviewed was a very close family friend and his name is MR Vandi Konneh. He is self-employed and he is in his mid-fifty’s and we always consented to him for prayers and also help resolving family dispute between me and my wife as he is a spiritual healer. He has been part of my family for the past ten to fifteen years now. And he played a great part in meeting my wife as he was the mediator between me and my wife when we first started talking. We have a very amicable relationship with him and we trusted him with even our most secret information about our family matters and he is …show more content…
always there for us if we need financially. The second person that I interviewed was some stranger that I met at one of FedEx Office locations in Washington, DC Northwest and he is MR Newton Willis-Ali. He is in his mid-thirty’s, single dad with two kids and paying child support. MR Willis-Ali is living pay check to pay check, I saw his a few times in this location on two occasions so I thought I could talk to him about my unit 4 assignment and he was very friendly and when I requested his time he was very happy to give his views about the topic. We started the discussion first by a brief talk about our families and what we do for living as I do not have any clue about his background. Interview with MR Vandi Konneh
Question: How would you define Happiness?
Response: Happiness for me is getting time to spend with my close friends and family. The time when I am at my happiest is when I am back home spending quality time with my twin sisters. Living so far away I don’t get to be a big sister to them much so any time we do have is cherish able.
Question: Has your definition of Happiness changed over time?
Response: Yes my definition of Happiness has changed with my age. When I was a teenager my definition of happiness relied upon boys and make up. If a boy I fancied liked me back that made me one of the happiest teenagers around.
Question: What experiences have influenced your definition?
Response: I guess you could say time and age have influenced my definition. Not only these factors but the loss of a close family member has also made me realise that family and time spent with them really is important.
Question: Do you expect your definition to change in the future?
Response: Yes I can say that this definition will change when I have kids and when my children have their children.
Question: What is your happiest memory to date?
Response: That is a hard question but probably the day my twin sisters asked me advice about boys. This memory reminds me so much of when I was their age. It made me so happy to think they value my advice and opinions.
(G. Hine, Personal Communication, October 7th 2012)
Interview with Natalie
Question: How would you define Happiness?
Response: That is simple my children are my whole world. Everything they do brings happiness to me.
Question: Has your definition of Happiness changed over time?
Response: Yes with the birth of each of my children the happiness I experience grows more and more. Sure bad things have happened to me in the past but my children are my true reason for living and breathing each day.
Question: What experiences have influenced your definition?
Response: I would have to say the sole influence at this time is my children and I’m sure one day I will have grandchildren too.
Question: Do you expect your definition to change in the future?
Response: Yes I expect that it will change with time and with the birth of my grandchildren in the years to …show more content…
come.
Question: What is your happiest memory to date?
Response: My happiest memory to date was probably the birth of my oldest she is now 13 years old. She helped me in so many ways to become an adult and take responsibility for someone other than myself. I remember I was so scared to give birth but once she was brought to me and in my arms it’s like nothing I had ever experienced before.
(N. Goodwin, Personal Communication, October 7th 2012)
Understanding Happiness
Charlotte Briscoe
HU300
Kaplan University
Happiness often means different things to different individuals and often individuals have different definitions of what happiness means to them. Some people define happiness as the pleasures we experience in our life this is what’s known as ‘Hedonism’. ‘Aristippus a Greek philosopher declared happiness to be the sum total of pleasures experienced during one’s life time’ (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009). Whilst some people believe happiness is defined by pleasures of life others believe that it is the avoidance of pain otherwise known as ‘Epicureanism’.
The two people I interviewed defined happiness as spending time with their loved ones. This could fall under the category of ‘Hedonism’ since both of them state that spending time with their family is what makes them happy thus it could be labelled as a source of pleasure in their life.
Both Gabrielle and Natalie state their happiness has everything to do with their family. In the case of Gabrielle it is her twin sisters and close friends whom are the definition of happiness for her, however this will more than likely change when she has children. On the other hand for Natalie it is her children whom define her happiness. She equates her happiness to spending time with her kids and the everyday activities that are involved with parenting.
Both of these ladies know that family is precious and even though we may not see them for a while certainly in the case of Gabrielle it makes the time she spends with them special.
Appreciating and loving family makes so many things in this world worthwhile. To share a life with family should be counted as one of life’s great pleasures.
While both ladies have similar ideals about what their definition of happiness is it could be said that both these views will more than likely change and adapt as time goes past.
‘Aristotelianism is defined as happiness as the quality of a whole life time.’ “Happiness is the purpose for which we live. Aristotle concluded that happiness is not a moment to moment experience of pleasurable things but rather a way of characterizing how one’s life is being conducted. Happiness is living and having lived a good life”. (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009)
While it could be said this definition of happiness does not fit with the majority of individuals ideals of happiness it is actually quite interesting. Most elderly people who are terminally ill or just dying of old age will often say “I am happy; I have lived a good life.” Therefore it could be said that ‘Aristotelianism’ is an accurate definition of happiness certainly for that
generation.
We define and decide what makes us happy, we have a choice and freedom to decide if something makes us happy or not. Although definitions for happiness changes from person to person and culture to culture the ideals will be similar. What I mean by this is that a person living in America has the right to decide what makes them happy the same as a person living in Nepal. Their definitions will be slightly different and one probably more complex than the other but there is freedom to choose what makes individuals happy. This freedom in its self may add to the individual’s definition of what makes them happy. References
Janaro R.P. & Altshuler T. C. (2014). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for living (Kaplan University 3rd custom ed.). New York: Pearson Education.
Unisa Jaffa
Kaplan University
HU300 – 10 Art and Humanities
Prof Crystal Hofegartner
The first person that I interviewed was a very close family friend and his name is MR Vandi Konneh. He is self-employed and he is in his mid-fifty’s and we always consented to him for prayers and also help resolving family dispute between me and my wife as he is a spiritual healer. He has been part of my family for the past ten to fifteen years now. And he played a great part in meeting my wife as he was the mediator between me and my wife when we first started talking. We have a very amicable relationship with him and we trusted him with even our most secret information about our family matters and he is …show more content…
always there for us if we need financially. The second person that I interviewed was some stranger that I met at one of FedEx Office locations in Washington, DC Northwest and he is MR Newton Willis-Ali. He is in his mid-thirty’s, single dad with two kids and paying child support. MR Willis-Ali is living pay check to pay check, I saw his a few times in this location on two occasions so I thought I could talk to him about my unit 4 assignment and he was very friendly and when I requested his time he was very happy to give his views about the topic. We started the discussion first by a brief talk about our families and what we do for living as I do not have any clue about his background. Interview with MR Vandi Konneh
Question: How would you define Happiness?
Response: Happiness for me is getting time to spend with my close friends and family. The time when I am at my happiest is when I am back home spending quality time with my twin sisters. Living so far away I don’t get to be a big sister to them much so any time we do have is cherish able.
Question: Has your definition of Happiness changed over time?
Response: Yes my definition of Happiness has changed with my age. When I was a teenager my definition of happiness relied upon boys and make up. If a boy I fancied liked me back that made me one of the happiest teenagers around.
Question: What experiences have influenced your definition?
Response: I guess you could say time and age have influenced my definition. Not only these factors but the loss of a close family member has also made me realise that family and time spent with them really is important.
Question: Do you expect your definition to change in the future?
Response: Yes I can say that this definition will change when I have kids and when my children have their children.
Question: What is your happiest memory to date?
Response: That is a hard question but probably the day my twin sisters asked me advice about boys. This memory reminds me so much of when I was their age. It made me so happy to think they value my advice and opinions.
(G. Hine, Personal Communication, October 7th 2012)
Interview with Natalie
Question: How would you define Happiness?
Response: That is simple my children are my whole world. Everything they do brings happiness to me.
Question: Has your definition of Happiness changed over time?
Response: Yes with the birth of each of my children the happiness I experience grows more and more. Sure bad things have happened to me in the past but my children are my true reason for living and breathing each day.
Question: What experiences have influenced your definition?
Response: I would have to say the sole influence at this time is my children and I’m sure one day I will have grandchildren too.
Question: Do you expect your definition to change in the future?
Response: Yes I expect that it will change with time and with the birth of my grandchildren in the years to …show more content…
come.
Question: What is your happiest memory to date?
Response: My happiest memory to date was probably the birth of my oldest she is now 13 years old. She helped me in so many ways to become an adult and take responsibility for someone other than myself. I remember I was so scared to give birth but once she was brought to me and in my arms it’s like nothing I had ever experienced before.
(N. Goodwin, Personal Communication, October 7th 2012)
Understanding Happiness
Charlotte Briscoe
HU300
Kaplan University
Happiness often means different things to different individuals and often individuals have different definitions of what happiness means to them. Some people define happiness as the pleasures we experience in our life this is what’s known as ‘Hedonism’. ‘Aristippus a Greek philosopher declared happiness to be the sum total of pleasures experienced during one’s life time’ (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009). Whilst some people believe happiness is defined by pleasures of life others believe that it is the avoidance of pain otherwise known as ‘Epicureanism’.
The two people I interviewed defined happiness as spending time with their loved ones. This could fall under the category of ‘Hedonism’ since both of them state that spending time with their family is what makes them happy thus it could be labelled as a source of pleasure in their life.
Both Gabrielle and Natalie state their happiness has everything to do with their family. In the case of Gabrielle it is her twin sisters and close friends whom are the definition of happiness for her, however this will more than likely change when she has children. On the other hand for Natalie it is her children whom define her happiness. She equates her happiness to spending time with her kids and the everyday activities that are involved with parenting.
Both of these ladies know that family is precious and even though we may not see them for a while certainly in the case of Gabrielle it makes the time she spends with them special.
Appreciating and loving family makes so many things in this world worthwhile. To share a life with family should be counted as one of life’s great pleasures.
While both ladies have similar ideals about what their definition of happiness is it could be said that both these views will more than likely change and adapt as time goes past.
‘Aristotelianism is defined as happiness as the quality of a whole life time.’ “Happiness is the purpose for which we live. Aristotle concluded that happiness is not a moment to moment experience of pleasurable things but rather a way of characterizing how one’s life is being conducted. Happiness is living and having lived a good life”. (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009)
While it could be said this definition of happiness does not fit with the majority of individuals ideals of happiness it is actually quite interesting. Most elderly people who are terminally ill or just dying of old age will often say “I am happy; I have lived a good life.” Therefore it could be said that ‘Aristotelianism’ is an accurate definition of happiness certainly for that
generation.
We define and decide what makes us happy, we have a choice and freedom to decide if something makes us happy or not. Although definitions for happiness changes from person to person and culture to culture the ideals will be similar. What I mean by this is that a person living in America has the right to decide what makes them happy the same as a person living in Nepal. Their definitions will be slightly different and one probably more complex than the other but there is freedom to choose what makes individuals happy. This freedom in its self may add to the individual’s definition of what makes them happy. References
Janaro R.P. & Altshuler T. C. (2014). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for living (Kaplan University 3rd custom ed.). New York: Pearson Education.