Happiness

1. Happiness Chapter 12

2. Happiness overview • The search for happiness is high on the list of themes in the humanities • We say “oh well, as long as they’re happy” • What defines happiness? • Is joy equal to happiness? Can we be happy without joy?

3. Hedonism • Happiness is the sum total pleasures experienced during one’s lifetime. • Hedonism-happiness is equivalent to physical pleasure and to the possession of things that provide us with pleasure • Home and society might try to teach us less selfish values, but instinct prevails

4. Literary hedonism • Shakespeare-Eat, Drink and be Merry • Robert Herrick-Gather Ye Rosebuds • “Carpe Diem”- seize the day

5. Hedonism Assumptions • Everyone deserves as much pleasure as possible • Pleasure is automatically good • No amount of pleasure is ever too much • The absence of pleasure is a misfortune for which compensation is due • Big earnings theory- an “earning” is considered the pleasure owed to a deserving person for services rendered or unpleasant chores completed

6. Epicureanism • Happiness is avoiding pain • Assumptions • Pleasure is good, but not the only good (sometimes we may pass over many pleasures when greater discomfort accrues to us as a result of them). • Temperance • No one can sustain pleasure over prolonged periods of time • Avoid excess, seek out controllable, nonphysical pleasures (humanities)- treasures one “ cannot lose”

7. Criticisms Hedonism Epicureanism • Definition of pleasure is too limited • Hedonists claim human nature but there are those who choose to live otherwise, are they “freaks”? • Just as rooted in self-interest as Hedonism just different mask • Should be detached in order to avoid pain, isolated

8. Stoicism • Don’t plan ahead for a life of unlimited pleasure nor should you expect to avoid pain through discipline and moderation. • Pain is intrinsic to living • Best possible action is to prepare for the worst and develop a technique for dealing with it. • Nothing is under our control expect the way we think about things. • Romans embraced this concept/lifestyle, no excess, bare necessities

9. Stoicism and Christianity • Blended perfectly, the idea that only the soul, not the body mattered • Christian martyrdom deeply rooted in stoic principles • Prosperity does not last forever, seeks not pleasure but inner peace.

10. Criticism of stoicism • If pain is temporary, then so is happiness • Critics say stoics secretly want everyone else to be miserable too • Schadenfreude- German term for the pleasures derived from the misfortune of others

11. Aristotle’s views-”What am I doing that makes my life good?” Happiness Reason and Virtue • Not moment to moment, but a characterization of how one’s life is being conducted • If we are living a good life along the way, we know we are on the right path • What gives us pleasure or joy at one moment cannot be happiness because we can always think of something that would be better • If we allow reason to be our guide we will always do the right thing. • That way we can guarantee we are living the good life • May have regrets, but doesn’t mean that life was not a happy one

12. Aristotle Government’s Role Reconsidered… • Role of government is to see that citizens are happy • Offer protection • How can government reasonably protect the state if it sometimes uses unreasonable methods? • Assumes that a society with citizens’ welfare as the sole concern of government would be on its way to happiness. • Societies are much more complex, bureaucracy • Can’t rely on government to make you happy

13. History is filled with remarkable examples of how good lives managed to overcome horrible barriers. Anne Frank Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi Models of Happy lives

14. Buddhist Paths Hinayana (little ferryboat) Mahayana (big ferryboat) • Develop teachings of Siddhartha into 4 noble truths… • Life is filled with pain • The cause of pain is frustrated desire • There is a way out of pain • The way out is the Eightfold Path • Adds a larger perspective and a more expansive concept of bliss • Nirvana is attainable in one lifetime • Move beyond 4 Truths to help others

15. Leader of Tibetan Buddhism • Practices Mahayana • Tranquility is achieved through acceptance of everyone else, not burning desire to change them. Dalai Lama

16. In closing, • Once you recognize that you are in control of defining your happiness and can make it mean what is possible for you, not what you can never hope to achieve, then you may experience a measure of contentment.