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I deeply disagree with this — if you can achieve happiness without meaning, there is no need for meaning. Of course, I understand that achieving happiness can
by trevyn 8y ago
I deeply disagree with this — if you can achieve happiness without meaning, there is no need for meaning.
Of course, I understand that achieving happiness can be challenging, and that seeking meaning can be a meaningful step on that path.
But it is possible to have happiness without meaning, and that seems more valuable than meaning without happiness, or happiness that relies on a sense of meaning.
- Domenic_S 8y agoThe science disagrees https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/meaning-is-healthier-than-happiness/278250/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/meaning-i...
- trevyn 8y agoAh, interesting. Thank you for challenging my assertion. Upon deeper introspection, my own personal experience of “happiness without meaning” is closer to “the meaning is just the universe/physics unfolding (and I happen to be a part of that)”, which is so all-encompassing that it has little meaning itself, in the Kolmogorov complexity sense. And concomitant well-being, which I would define as closer to “completely neutral affective experience” rather than the “positive affective experience” described as hedonic well-being in the study you referenced.
- extragood 8y agoAccording to Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics", happiness is the greatest good in life. The pursuit of a meaningful life puts way too much pressure on identifying what is meaningful and worth our energies. That would probably decrease my happiness. What if I can't find any pursuit that I consider to be the most meaningful? Am I OK committing to something that could potentially be less than optimal in terms of meaningfulness? It isn't that important for me to evaluate my actions on meaningfulness - I'm bound to disappoint my self by that metric. Prioritizing meaningfulness over happiness is putting the cart before the horse, in my mind.
- trevyn 8y agoHa, I think you just explained why Effective Altruists always seem so stressed out.
- nradov 8y agoWhy is happiness valuable?