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This seems like an unsophisticated view of what 'happiness' is. In my view, you have a more-or-less conscious reason for doing everything you do, with happiness
by gglitch 11y ago
This seems like an unsophisticated view of what 'happiness' is. In my view, you have a more-or-less conscious reason for doing everything you do, with happiness being at the top of the chain, the state you build and maintain for no other reason. Viewed from within that frame, it seems like the response to this essay would be, if not to be more happy, why pursue a life with great purpose and meaning?
Edit--it feels more pompous not to cite my sources than to do so, so I'm getting this mainly from Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, and equating "happiness," with what he calls "eudaimonea," which is not to be falsely equated with a simple good feeling.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- AnimalMuppet 11y agoOne could almost say, there's more to happiness than "being happy".
- tripzilch 11y ago> In my view, you have a more-or-less conscious reason for doing everything you do, with happiness being at the top of the chain, the state you build and maintain for no other reason. What you seem to be describing is a concept called "value" in the philosophy of ethics. "Happiness" is a pretty universal value. But it's not the only one, "Freedom" for instance. There's some hypothetical thought experiment that illustrates this, about people being offered to get hooked up to a VR eternal-happy-machine simulator, it's a bit more nuanced than that, you should probably look it up if you want to know :-) Anyway, it seems to me that the article is arguing that "Caring for/Giving to others" is somewhat of a neglected, "forgotten" value. But then, I happen to agree with most of what it says.