Preview

Pr in Selfish Pursuit

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
541 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Pr in Selfish Pursuit
In Selfish Pursuit
In selfish pursuit is a story written by Anthony Brandt. It is a story about his personal life and his definitions of happiness. In this text, Brandt argues about the meaning of happiness. He discusses the most common view of happiness: One that is defined by materialistic possessions. The author debates about his interpretation of happiness in a way that deviates from the conventional definition of happiness.
“You arrive at a goal and that makes you happy, but then you notice that the happiness is composed half of relief, half of self satisfaction; the latter half makes you distinctly nervous, and you fall to chewing on your achievements, discounting them. This then becomes the spur to more achievements, more happiness, and more guilt”
Brandt makes a very pessimistic and depressing statement here. Indeed, he may personally feel that way, but I would argue that point differently. I would argue that when we arrive at a goal, we are satisfied for a moment. However, we have an even greater hunger to achieve that overcomes our satisfaction. Hunger: a hunger for more glory, a hunger to push beyond our current limits, a hunger that fuels our pride and keeps us going. I would never associate nervousness with achievement. Of course, there are those who achieve and stay satisfied. They lose the hunger to keep going. Not everyone can stay hungry for more success, but the author should not associate goals with guilt.
“We identified happiness with success and we are stuck with it now...”
I completely agree with Brandt on this issue. We have taken a very narrow and uncompromising stance on the issue of happiness. I argue that happiness is an extremely widespread concept. No two people can define happiness in the same way. Defining happiness through materialistic wealth and success may certainly be suitable for some people and reading “Herodotus” and “Plutarch” may be the definition of happiness for others. Still others may define happiness as spending

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Using “In the Pursuit of Unhappiness” a deeper understanding of happiness how to achieve it and stray away from waste of a time was reached. Happiness is selflessness, the more one helps others and doesn't think of the possessions. joy will be the best outcome for anyone. The smallest act of kindness can affect anyone in the biggest way. It can bring happiness to a lost…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Marshmallow Experiment

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “Success usually comes down to choosing the pain of discipline over the ease of distraction. And that’s exactly what delayed gratification is all about” I think that is very true. Delayed gratification is just waiting for something better.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nt1310 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The true contents of happiness are stated in the article “A Formula for Happiness” by Arthur C. Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute. Brooks states that people realize life and view happiness depending on genes, one-time events and basic values: faith, family, community and work. He pays special attention to the last one. According to Brooks, meaningful work and success considered as passion can make people happier. Brooks cites as an example Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words: “Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money;…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Certainty & Doubt

    • 542 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Today, people definitively look for a solution to a problem because they find strength in success. Although doubt prevents us from truly seeking our achievements, the dilemma might seem that doubt coincides with the risk of consequence and reward. Wrong decisions result in consequences while right actions ensues a reward. An example of…

    • 542 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    every action comes down to this aim, every human being desires to be as happy…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What Happiness Is

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the short essay of “What Happiness Is” by Eduardo Porter, he gives explicit details pertaining to the complex word, happiness. In its own term, happiness is defined as, the state of being happy. According to Porter’s findings on happiness, he says that psychologists and economists believe this: “Most psychologists and economists who study happiness agree that what they prefer to call “subjective well-beings” comprises three parts: satisfaction meant to capture how people judge their lives measured up against their aspirations; positive feelings like joy; and the absence of negative feelings like anger” (457). Porter suggests that this does exist and that because it does it helps individuals through certain times, like: hardships, economy, family, country, sickness, and even death. He is saying that because happiness exists, individuals are able to overcome obstacles in their life, and are able to live longer and healthier. Porter does focus on the main issues and key abstract views of the word happiness. He covers important issues, by giving detail; he talks about the views of psychologists and economists’ views. “ In 1980s a new discipline called Prospect Theory—also known as behavioral economics—deployed the tools of psychology to analyze economic behavior” (458).…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Accordingly, it’s the primary goal of this brief article to differentiate the concepts of self-interest and selfishness: to praise the concept of self-interest as the catalyst of moral action, therefore worthy of admiration; and thus to admonish selfishness as the instigator which often leads to immorality and inconsiderate hedonism. Consequently, containing these two sentiments from one another in order to redeem the term self-interest and to specify its appropriateness becomes an intellectual…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people think that their goal in life is to be perfect. They strive for the best grades, to be the best one on the sports’ team, get the most scholarships, go to the best college, and to get the highest paying job. In reality, aiming for perfection only leads to downfall. When a person strives for perfection the only thing that can happen is disappointment. Since no one in life is truly perfect, goals will not be met, and disappointment will have to be faced. In her speech Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College, Anna Quindlen explores the topic of perfection and how striving for it can put a damper on life. By using rhetorical devices and appealing to pathos, Quindlen is able to effectively drive her point home.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As individuals we work in life to achieve many goals we desire, at times we work for them to any extent. These goals can take form physically or mentally and can bring great intellectual or spiritual developments. Happiness is seen as the major and most important emotion us humans seek for, it is what provides us with our ‘desired’ pleasures. However for some individuals they may argue that this view is too hedonistic and that life should encompass many other important goals, thus making it unworthy and is seen as a futile goal.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    stumbling on happiness

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Daniel Gilbert was born on November 5, 1957. He was a high school drop out at age 19 who was interested in writing. He started at a community college taking creative writing classes. He later went on to receive a bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Colorado Denver in 1981 and a Ph. D. in social psychology from Princeton University in 1985. He is currently a professor at Harvard University, a non-fiction writer, and a journalist. His book, Stumbling On Happiness, is an international best seller.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Selfishness is the key to happiness. That’s the answer someone would receive if they were to ask Harry Browne on his approach to selfishness. At first glance, most people would be opposed and reject this theory. Most people would believe that selflessness and concern about others before oneself is key to overall happiness. Browne sees this theory as the “Unselfishness Trap,” which is where people are led to believe they must sacrifice their own happiness for someone else. Browne see’s happiness as a big rubber ball, and “when [someone] has the ball in [their] hands . . .…

    • 1721 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today’s society teaches people to be happy but in that, they focus on the material items to make them happy. Many people in the world define happiness as living a good life or exceeding the expectations of others. But happiness begins with finding what is within, what is one’s true desires in life. People focus more on the price of life than life itself, and they tend to make happiness out of material objects and then not being happy in the end.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Instead, we will look to a second definition of happiness by Miriam-Webster presenting a definition that more reasonably proposes that happiness is one’s position on life rather than a transient feeling. Miriam-Webster states that happiness is “a state of well-being and contentment.” By introducing this idea of well-being to an explanation of the inspiration of happiness, Miriam-Webster’s definition suggests that different elements, such as health and comfort, are required to create happiness. Many people over the course of history have attempted to define happiness, and some definitions are quite interesting, however, who is to say that any of the definitions are correct or incorrect? To answer the original question asked, “What is happiness?” there is no definite way to define happiness, especially not a definition that will be valid for every person. Happiness is something that is achieved, and once achieved, that person knows that something is different. It is something strived towards in our society because there are so many people facing adversity that many are unable to find their happiness due to their worries. In his book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley introduces a type of society quite different from our own in which happiness…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Revised Thesis: People’s ambitions are often geared to the success of others who are wealthy and powerful, which, in turn, prevents them from achieving true intrinsic happiness.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We would have been sitting in dark, if Edison had not invented a light bulb. If he just thought of making a light bulb but never gave effort to it , it wouldn’t have possible. He failed 100 times but still he didn’t loosed hope and finally succeeded. Though “success is achieved by those, who try and try again’’…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays