Questions tagged [happiness]
The happiness tag has no usage guidance.
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Arguments against "The good life is a happy one"?
In a previous question I have referred to eudaimonia and mentioned that, I guess at least in hellenistic tradition the good life is a happy one.
However, now I wonder whether there is a counter to ...
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Is the good life a happy one?
I am curious whether the good life is also, somewhat by necessity, a happy one? I am basing this off of the concept that happiness is not merely feeling good all the time, but rather in the sense of ...
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Are the justifications of an irrational society false?
I was reading a bit about Horkheimer, and at various times he claims that capitalist society is not rational, that society limits rational critique of reason, and that
something in them should rebel ...
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Aristotle's Golden Balance - bad for the economy?
Matt Haig in this quote: “Happiness is not good for the economy. We
are encouraged, continually, to be a little bit dissatisfied with
ourselves. …To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be
...
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Why expecting happiness while spending the least amount of effort rarely work in life?
The moral rules governing our lives can feel consistently real even though they cannot be explained by the laws of physics.
Taking drugs to make yourself happy. Having sex without an intended ...
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Is sadistic joy in the unhappiness of another person ever justified? [closed]
Is sadistic joy in the unhappiness of another person ever justified? I don't mean their physical or even mental pain but whether we are ever justified in enjoying the pillaging of someone's happiness, ...
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Arguments against the importance of happiness and possible substitutes
What arguments are there against the importance of happiness, by which I mean anything from a hedonistic mood or affect, through a world that might create feelings of happiness, and including human ...
user70707
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Does anyone talk about a will for others to see themselves?
Does anyone talk about a will for others to see themselves? I'm being a little ambiguous, I'm sure, but am trying to give up on phrases like "good" and "evil" as well as the will ...
user70707
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Aristotle's Happiness Argument [closed]
In Aristotle's view and Nicomachean Ethics, why does a person always have happiness if he once has happiness?
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Aristotle's function argument
My question lies in the reconstruction of Aristotle's argument that "The human good turns out to be activity of the soul exhibiting virtues, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance ...
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The more you learn, the more you are sad?
I've read multiple times that if you learn more, you understand more seeing the reality of things causing a sadness all over you; is that real? Or is it that the more you know the more you are happy?
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What is the best metaphor for not being able to die?
There does seem something out of the ordinary, strange, about having thoughts and feelings, let alone mine. Allow me to say that my rarity makes me valuable.
So dark matter - which makes up 27% of the ...
user66760
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Did Kierkegaard believe that we should live seeking meaning and not happiness?
Before I pose my question I want to say two things:
I have no formal training in Philosophy
I searched for similar questions but found none, please excuse me if this is a duplicate
I saw a YouTube ...
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How much suffering is needed for an overall happy life?
Premise: I have not studied Philosophy, and maybe I am out of context.
My question arises from two simple considerations:
Empirically, there seems to be no true happiness without some suffering (...
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Can happiness be purely a state of mind?
Are there any mainstream philosophers (I assume it is meaningful to define such a subset of philosophers!) who argue that happiness can be a self-induced frame of mind? To put the question another way,...
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What are the intellectual roots of U.S. happiness and Western Continental Europe suffering?
Question:
It seems to me happiness is very valued in the U.S. society (and maybe other Western English-speaking countries such as Australia, but I am not sure).
On the other hand, Western Continental ...
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Philosophical school of thought that includes "unsatisfaction" or "the yearning for more" as a key component of "happiness"
What is the philosophical term for Callicle's position here? The quotes are from Plato's Gorgias.
SOCRATES: [...] Tell me, then:—you say, do you not, that in the rightly-developed man the passions ...
user64708
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Do humans need some agency over the world around them for their lives to have some sense or purpose?
This is a follow up to this question I was told to revise: If all work is automated, what will humans be able to do? After consideration I think that the only way to salvage that question is to break ...
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If all work is automated, what will humans be able to do? [closed]
It seems possible that sooner or later AIs will obsolete all human work and labor. This will happen at latest when AIs superior to human brain in all aspect become generally available.
If or when this ...
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Should happiness be attained by reforming the world around us for the better or by accepting it as it is?
Two of the most influent philosophers in the antiquity proposed different perspectives on how we should attain happiness: Plato and Epictetus.
Plato points out that our civilization contains ...
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Which philosophers would say I am not happy? [closed]
Suppose I was a fabulous person. Not just morally upright and virtuous, but I achieved numerous amazing things, too many to list. It's just that I received no benefit whatsoever from them. If anything,...
user62727
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Does the Fifth Antinomy involve the indefinite/infinite distinction, just like the theoretical antinomies do?
The Fifth Antinomy (FA) is the one from the second Critique, the one concerning the balance/harmony of virtue and happiness. As far as what I remember Kant saying goes, the FA doesn't pertain directly ...
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Do we have to know certain things in order to die authentically happily?
Do we have to know certain things in order to die authentically happily? I am especially interested in things we don't need to know know in order to live happily, but nevertheless we do to die happily....
user61995
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According to e.g. Tolstoy, is happiness solely down to us?
Aristotle’s reply is that one’s virtuous activity will be to some
extent diminished or defective, if one lacks an adequate supply of
other goods (1153b17–19). Someone who is friendless, childless,
...
user61970
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What reasons, besides non-mental conditions of our lives and impoverishment, do philosophers give for the idea that well being isn't just mental?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in the article for happiness says:
In the face of these and other objections most commentators have concluded that neither happiness nor any other mental state ...
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Are happiness and desire for more (or something) mutually exclusive? [closed]
I have heard a popular notion of happiness that — when you're happy you're satisfied/fulfilled with what you have.
Are 'happiness' and 'desire for more' mutually exclusive?
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What was Wittgenstein's view on happiness?
I was wondering whether Wittgenstein is a proponent of happiness being central to a life well lived. Generally, from Ronald Suter's article and what I've read about him, Id wager the answer is yes. ...
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Did Heidegger claim that his "inauthenticity" was to some extent unavoidable for the individual?
Did Heidegger claim that his "inauthenticity" was to some extent unavoidable for the individual? I think I know that Sartre's bad faith was a necessary feature of overcoming it.
Is the ...
user62233
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Does anyone talk about loneliness not as a failure of love
Does anyone (ideally philosophy, not self help) talk about loneliness not as a failure of love for or by others, even yourself, nor as a virtue - but as something which can be won nevertheless - but ...
user62233
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Does eudemonia depend on tense?
Not asking about any particular concept of well being or happiness. The question may seem odd: if I am happy today now then I will have been happy for the day. But I suspect it at least may be more ...
user56946
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Do all systems of ethics boil down to maximizing pleasure and/or minimizing suffering?
I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't. Utilitarianism obviously does, but even others seem to. Take Kant's categorical imperative for example. What is the point in performing one's perfect ...
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What are considered landmark ideas on happiness among modern philosophers?
Yes, there was Aristotle's understanding of it as an objective, and Epicurus providing a recipe. David Hume concurred, "The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For ...
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Are pursuing the well-being and reducing the suffering of sentient beings objectively good things?
I think most people intuitively agree that increasing their own well-being and minimizing their own suffering are the right things to do. Everyone wants to be happy, enjoy a good health, etc. The ...
user48437
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How does Aristotle motivate that there is no universal good?
I'm reading the Nicomachean Ethics written by Aristotle and there's this one statement (and it's motivations) that I'm really struggling with. In my version of the book it is written in rather ...
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Does Buddhist anatta present additional problems with the "no harm" thesis about death?
Does Buddhist anatta present additional problems with the "no harm" thesis about death?
I think Buddhists would agree that death can be good (an escape from some hellish existence) or bad (...
user62233
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What motivation does an omnipotent god have to do anything? [closed]
For example, every human action is motivated by happiness. So what reason does god have, to do or create things? happiness can't be the only reason, because he can make himself infinitely happy ...
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Does the story of Madhavrao Peshva contradict the Gita
I would like to hear ideas on whether the story of Madhavrao Peshva (a brahmin-born who performed the duty of a warrior) contradicts the Gita's teaching that one should perform their own duty (and ...
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Which modern philosophers put distrust of happiness and pleasures among their central theses? [closed]
I could think of:
Stoicism, say in Seneca who sees pleasures as "low, slavish, perishable", contrasting pleasures with virtue, which he sees as the highest good. Seneca argues that one who ...
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Happiness in virtue ethics
I have several questions regarding virtue ethics:
Let us imagine a person who says something like "money, not virtue makes me happy", and this conclusion is based on one's experience or ...
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Did Aristotle think that children could be happy?
Given that children can't exhibit the classical virtues in the same way that adults can, did Aristotle think that children could be happy? If so, in what sense?
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Is civilization really a good thing? [closed]
According to Bertrand Russell
Change is one thing, progress is another. Change is scientific, progress is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
Sigmund Freud ...
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Is brain reward hacking immoral?
Consider the following scenarios, each of which at their core refer to a form of 'reward hacking'.
Based on personal observation, each scenario below generally elicits an immediate, visceral feeling ...
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Should Bergson be described as an individualist?
It's claimed that Bergson's "intuition of pure duration" is the "highest and most valuable form of human experience": is this an individualist or collectivist good?
I'm asking because I'm interested ...
user38026
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Can I define morality as "maximizing pleasure/happiness"? Why yes or why not?
I heard in this video https://youtu.be/ebuve4INdAU?list=WL&t=699 that it is difficult to define morality as maximizing happiness for the maximum number of people.
I also read about the open-...
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How to live the present instead of just surviving?
When I was younger, I always tried to imagine how my future would be, and how it would feel like. I tried to imagine how my relationships would be, how my house would be, what my job would be, etc., ...
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Is Socrates' happiness possible for average, normal people?
Socrates talked a big game in the Republic: we don't need money, family or friends to be happy; all that requires is that we pursue truth and wisdom. I can sort of see how this can make sense for ...
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Pleasure-maximizing hedonistic pacing
Suppose I am hedonist who wants to maximize the pleasure I experience in my life. I have observed the hedonic treadmill, and am aware that after having the same experience a few times, I will find it ...
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Was every nihilist philosopher yet unhappy with it?
Let's use a comparison. For this I will show my own views on it:
My life is meaningless. I play games for a meaningless joy. I listen jokes for a meaningless laughter. I want to change this world ...
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What does money do to a person? [closed]
What does money do, to a person?
There is the idea of commodity fetishism, but I guess this is more to do with the economy than e.g. individual bourgeoisie.
Can anyone offer a brief overview of ...
user35983
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Have we become less happy in this age of technology? [closed]
With the growing emergence of technology and our busy routine, everyone is busy on their own; people are considering their lives so busy! Are we becoming less happy in this modern era of technology?
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