The Pursuit of Happiness
Catherine Bartlett
Johnna Maiorella
Humanities through the Arts
April 24, 2013
The Pursuit of Happiness What is happiness? What is virtue? Although these two things are important to us, we probably have not put much though into why. Most people would agree that happiness is something everyone wants or a state of being. Virtues are part of our character and encompass such things as loyalty, courage, truth, and integrity and are also an essential part of who we are. When we congratulate each other on an important event in our lives, an indispensable component of our wishes is happiness. We all have our own understanding of happiness. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2013), one of the definitions of happiness is “a pleasurable or satisfying experience”. For some people satisfaction comes with money, for others with a good grade or a well done job. Happiness and virtue are key components in human nature and something we all naturally strive for; however, because we are all unique each of us will strive for these in a different way. The desire to be happy is a universal and natural part of human nature. Every person has his or her own unique definition of what happiness means. Each person has their own desires, wishes, thoughts, emotions and dreams. Even with all the different thoughts/ideas about happiness you can still attain it. If you want your life to be filled with happiness, then the first thing which you must do is to decide what happiness means to you. To Aristotle happiness is the ultimate purpose of human existence. According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime all the goods-health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc...-that lead to the perfection of human nature and the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and are more tempting, while the greater good is
Johnna Maiorella
Humanities through the Arts
April 24, 2013
The Pursuit of Happiness What is happiness? What is virtue? Although these two things are important to us, we probably have not put much though into why. Most people would agree that happiness is something everyone wants or a state of being. Virtues are part of our character and encompass such things as loyalty, courage, truth, and integrity and are also an essential part of who we are. When we congratulate each other on an important event in our lives, an indispensable component of our wishes is happiness. We all have our own understanding of happiness. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2013), one of the definitions of happiness is “a pleasurable or satisfying experience”. For some people satisfaction comes with money, for others with a good grade or a well done job. Happiness and virtue are key components in human nature and something we all naturally strive for; however, because we are all unique each of us will strive for these in a different way. The desire to be happy is a universal and natural part of human nature. Every person has his or her own unique definition of what happiness means. Each person has their own desires, wishes, thoughts, emotions and dreams. Even with all the different thoughts/ideas about happiness you can still attain it. If you want your life to be filled with happiness, then the first thing which you must do is to decide what happiness means to you. To Aristotle happiness is the ultimate purpose of human existence. According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime all the goods-health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc...-that lead to the perfection of human nature and the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. Often the lesser good promises immediate pleasure and are more tempting, while the greater good is
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