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For centuries, society has shaped these abstract ideas of what happiness means and how one could achieve happiness in their lives. However, in order to even understand what actions could lead to one’s happiness, one must be able to understand the definition of happiness itself. Having read Charles Dicken’s book Great Expectations, happiness persists as a pleasure or sense of a meaningful and rich psychosocial integration in a person’s understanding of himself or herself.…
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Sharon Begley in “Happiness: Enough Already” argues that being extremely happy may be a goal of anybody but it also can be “the end of the drive for ever-greater heights of happiness” (455). Begley claims that “being happier is not always better” (455) and an excessive happiness may affect badly to people’s life. She points out that people who reach the highest level of happiness don’t feel motivated to move forward since they are already satisfied. The author goes on insists that happiness does not last long because “negative emotion evolved for a reason” (456). She presents many cases of famous people who experienced negative emotions to create their well-known works showing the need of sadness in every lifetime. Furthermore, people desire to gain more and more happiness causing them the fear to experience sadness. Therefore, what they once considered normal sadness is regarded as a psychiatric illness now. The author then concludes that everything would be much better if “the single-minded pursuit of happiness as an end in itself” (458).…
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Happiness is the most ideal state of mind that any person can achieve in his life and which indicates complete physical and moral satisfaction of an individual. According to Freud, happiness is nothing but another synonym for sexual pleasure; in other words, following the pleasure principle, happiness can only be achieved by investing all of our libidinal energies in the aim of reaching genital satisfaction. But due to some obstacles that will never allow any human being from reaching the ultimate state of happiness, like the weakness of our own bodies, Freud, adopting the reality principle, came up with the theory of sublimation; which suggests that an individual can avoid the pain caused from not achieving complete happiness by deviating his libidinal energies towards other activities, like sports, gardening, painting… These activities will later cause the birth of human civilization. But note that when this sublimation exceeds its limits, and there are no more libidinal energies to be diverted, a more primitive instinct begins to show: the death drive, which can only be contained by the fund of libidinal energies that we possess.…
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Everyone's goal in life is to be “happy”, they go out of their way to fulfill temporary pleasures. But what is very ironic is that striving for this possession filled happiness, many become sad, weary and give up on their dream of so called “happiness”. The article written by Darrin McMahon “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” , goes over this issue in great detail. Achieving true happiness is nearly impossible in the way we try to maintain it.…
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The definition of what it means to truly obtain and achieve happiness in life has been explored by hundreds of philosophers over the decades. In spite of this being the case for the subject, not one of these philosophers have found an exact answer to such a question. One cannot measure happiness and its capacity. As a result of this, people have no choice but to determine their own judgement of what happiness is to them. This judgement can easily be affected by an individual’s situation and the problems that they will inevitably face.…
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We all have a different definition of happiness, and it seems like it is still unclear what happiness really means. In “the sources of happiness”, by Howard Cutler, he discuss where happiness comes from and how the comparing mind works. As for the second article “happiness and its discontents” by Daniel Haybron, he talks about how being happy is being satisfied. Another observations of his that overlaps with Culter point which is how we always seem to confuse happiness with pleasure. Which makes us question if Satisfaction brings us happiness? Is pleasure considered happiness? And will comparing ourselves to other people people bring us happiness or misery?. It is important to understand that happiness is not just one element. It is something that is built over time and rewarded to those who work for it.…
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As Jeff, one of our classmates has described in his posts, "\Freud's theories of human nature are inherently pessimistic. We are all doomed to anxiety, to the thwarting of impulses, and to tension and conflict.…
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Happiness, the intangible emotion that we all desire. Is there proof that this emotion even exists? Eduardo Porter has written an essay titled “What Happiness Is”. In this essay Mr. Porter took the time to study the emotion of happiness that we all experience in life. He makes an attempt to question not only his reasons as to why he is happy, but to have the reader question their own sense of happiness as well. What is it that makes us feel joyful emotions, and how can vastly different experiences cause us to feel the same emotion that we call happiness? While searching for the proof of this feeling Eduardo Porter reflects upon his own personal experiences, professional studies and ultimately decides that his questions may never be answered. Porter states that, “most psychologists and economists who study happiness agree that what they prefer to call “subjective well-being” comprises three parts: satisfaction, meant to capture how people judge their lives measured up against their aspirations; positive feelings like joy; and the absence of negative feelings like anger.” This is an important analysis of how we form the idea of how joyful we actually are. Something in life that one person might be ashamed of could improve the level of cheerfulness for another person. For example, the thought of getting a tattoo might cause one individual to feel guilt while another individual might feel pleasure at the same thought. Because there is no definitive formula that provides a calculated experience of happiness for everyone, it is interesting to question what actions or lack thereof in our lives cause us to be cheerful or to lose some of the happiness that we have already gained. The organization of this essay was well thought out and effective. The author opens with the statement, “Happiness is a slippery concept, a bundle of meaning with no precise, stable definition.” This opening statement provokes the reader to question their own beliefs in…
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What is happiness? Marketing and media have brainwashed people’s brain into believing that happiness means to own possessions such as cars, big houses, or brand new devices among others. Unfortunately, this overstated fable is far from real. In fact, most people misunderstand that happiness is a choice that lies inside them. Weather to be happy or not, is up to any individual to choose as they please. Namely, true happiness is no more than a positive attitude, a good healthy habit, and life meaning.…
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Hybron states that happiness can be categorized into two terms: prudential and psychological. The term prudential states that life is an act of “flourishing” as the words “Eudemonia” explains in Aristotelian Ethics. On the other hand, the term Physiological covers ‘Hedonism’ which comes from within your feelings. Hybron’s view on the question explains that happiness isn’t something that is temporary and which happens and ends in an instant. Hybron doesn’t connect happiness with pleasure. The role of emotions and feelings and hedonism is more crucial for…
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Religion, art and science are also known as achievements of civilization, which fit into his theory of human happiness. Freud defines happiness in terms of the satisfaction of need or desire. Happiness is hard to achieve, which is where Freud’s pleasure principle is found. There are two parts of the pleasure principle, which are negative aim, that avoids pain and suffering and positive aim is getting pleasure. As a civilization, the more advancements we…
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Man wants happiness, basically. There’s 2 ways to go about it: the absence of pain, or pleasure. However, it seems that man’s plan to be happy has “not been included in the plan of ‘Creation’”. Happiness comes from the satisfaction of needs, but humans are made in a way that we can only derive intense enjoyment from things being contrasted and not from the state of things. For example, if you take a test, and you get a C, you are sad. If the next time you take a test you get an A, you are happy. This is a contrast. If you were to get A’s all the time, it wouldn’t make a difference to you, and so it wouldn’t produce happiness. Thus, “our possibilities of happiness are already restricted by our constitution”. Freud basically states that when any situation that is desired by the pleasure principle is prolonged, and then it creates a feeling of mild contentment in our lives. Therefore, possibilities of happiness is restricted by the law. Many of humankind's primitive instincts (for example, the desire to kill and the craving for sexual gratification) are clearly harmful to the well being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if its rules are broken. This process, Freud argues, is an inherent quality of civilization that instills perpetual feelings of discontent in its citizens.…
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needs which have been dammed up to a high degree, and it is from its nature only…
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In Book I of Neomachean Ethics Aristotle explores the issue of happiness in order to determine the nature of the experience and its effects on the way people live their lives. He talks about the success and fulfillment of happiness and how it is our highest goal. However, Aristotle does not say that we should aim for happiness, but we do aim at happiness. His point is not to say that we should live happy lives, but to show us what a happy life consists of. He states a number of concepts relating to the term happiness that shocks everyone who hears. Nevertheless, his outstanding proclamations add to the understanding of the term happiness.…
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In our current world, as we all regard, money is the tool for getting things we need and want. Everyone uses it and suprisingly the money is both tangible and intangible. We work for months and years to have money to buy specific things. ‘’A man wants to earn money in order to be happy, and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money’’. (‘’The Myth of Sisyphus ‘’,1942) Lots of human beings are spending their money to buy some products and services because they believe having these stuffs will make them happy. But what if they wrong? What if there is no real happiness come from money? As far as I am concerned, money is only tool not a purpose while achieving the happiness. Some say ‘ You can’t be happy without money because it unlocks everydoor’. According to them life offers every kind of opportunity and happiness to the wealthy people. Unfortunately, money can only buy temporary happiness. For reaching more permanent joy and felicity, you need values that are more important than money.…
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