How 5 Famous Philosophers Define Happiness
Happiness is one of the hardest words to define. The happiness of the mystic has nothing to do with that of the man of power, or with that of the ordinary person.
Just as in everyday life we find different definitions of this feeling, there are also different approaches to it in philosophy. Here we show you some of them.
1. Aristotle and metaphysical happiness
For Aristotle, the most prominent of the metaphysical philosophers, happiness is the highest aspiration of all human beings. The way to achieve it, from his point of view, is virtue. In other words, if you cultivate the highest virtues, you will be happy.
More than a specific state, Aristotle indicates that it is a lifestyle. The characteristic of this lifestyle is to constantly exercise the best that each human being has. You also need to cultivate prudence of character and have a good “daimon” (good destiny or good luck). That is why his theses on this feeling are known by the name of “eudaimonia”.
Aristotle provided the philosophical foundation on which the Christian church was built. Hence there is a great similarity between what this thinker proposes and the principles of the Judeo-Christian religions.
2. Epicurus and hedonistic happiness
Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who had great contradictions with the metaphysicians. Unlike these, he did not believe that happiness came only from the spiritual world, but also had to do with more earthly dimensions. In fact, he founded the “School of Happiness.” From this, he reached interesting conclusions.
He postulated the principle that balance and temperance was what gave rise to happiness. That approach was embodied in one of his great maxims:
I thought that love had little to do with happiness, but friendship did. He also insisted on the idea that you should not work to obtain goods, but for the love of what you do.
3. Nietzsche and the critique of happiness
Nietzsche thinks that living peacefully and without any worries is a desire of mediocre people, who do not place a higher value on life. Nietzsche opposes the concept of “happiness” to that of “happiness. ” Happiness means “to be well”, thanks to favorable circumstances, or good fortune. However, it is an ephemeral condition.
Happiness would be a kind of “ideal state of laziness”, that is, to have no worries, no fright. On the other hand, happiness is a vital force, a spirit of struggle against all obstacles that limit freedom and self-assertion.
To be happy, then, is to be able to test the vital force, by overcoming adversity and creating original ways of living.
4. José Ortega y Gasset and happiness as a confluence
For Ortega y Gasset, happiness is configured when “projected life” and “effective life” coincide. That is, when what we want to be converges with what we really are.
Thus, all human beings have the potential and the desire to be happy. This means that each one defines what are the realities that can make him happy. If you can truly build those realities, then you will be blissful.
5. Slavoj Zizek and happiness as a paradox
This philosopher indicates that being happy is a matter of opinion and not a matter of truth. He considers it a product of capitalist values, which implicitly promise eternal satisfaction through consumption.
However, in the human being dissatisfaction reigns because in reality he does not know what he wants. Everyone believes that if they achieved something (buy something, raise their status, etc.) they could be happy. But in reality, unconsciously, what he wants to achieve is something else and that is why he remains unsatisfied. A point that is explained very clearly in this video.
