2007-05-20 20:45:06 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
This is what Wikipedia has to say to start! But I like where it goes!
Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance that humans place on happiness.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 B.C.E., Aristotle stated that happiness is the only thing that humans desire for its own sake. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health, not for their own sake but in order to be happy. Note that "eudaimonia", the term we translate as "happiness", is for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state. Happiness is characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a man or woman fulfils human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: they belong to our nature. The happy person is virtuous, meaning he or she has outstanding abilities and emotional tendencies which allow him or her to fulfil our common human ends. For Aristotle, then, happiness is "the virtuous activity of the soul in accordance with reason": happiness is the practice of virtue.
(me! ->)
Virtue being the practice of excellent morals and morality being those actions concerned with what is right and wrong!
So, I think happiness is a pursuit of excellence. Excellence in what...is to be decided individually and discussed, argued or fought over collectively!
What makes me happy? Allsorts! Which makes me a lucky man!
e.g. my homemade tomato soup that I'm loving right now and, the candlelit bubble bath that I’m just going to have !!
Bye!
2007-05-21 08:58:05 · answer #1 · answered by Rob T Best 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is something we should all have a lot more of and don't. Half the reasons are that we have too much sress in our lives.
Shake off the worries, pay up you debts, find someone to love and you will be happy for ever. And you will then know what everyone else is missing out on.
Stay happy!
2007-05-21 03:52:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is what people find at the other end, and therefore what they bring to you, when they come out of their melancholy all alive a well; it is like coming of a fresh new day after long long marches of a lonely night in the meadow and vales of a gentle heart.
And whenever I do just that, it makes me very happy.
2007-05-21 07:28:22 · answer #3 · answered by Shahid 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your happiness is what ever makes you happy and which essentially is not role modeled on some one Else's happiness .
Happiness has to be absolutely personal and individual to experience the ultimate feeling .
If I relish what I have with my bounded capabilities and do not compare it with others, I am happy
2007-05-21 03:58:37 · answer #4 · answered by Prince Prem 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everything that is good and makes other happy is happiness
2007-05-21 04:41:48 · answer #5 · answered by nimesh 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is a state of mind and spirit. My daughter makes me happy, the smile in her eyes and all over her face, her progresses and her joy of life, her love and the relationship we have.
2007-05-21 03:53:49 · answer #6 · answered by Mira 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hapiness is the state of being worry-free.
Doing the things passionately is my source of happiness
2007-05-21 04:04:11 · answer #7 · answered by BING C 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i be live if you can do someone a good turn; that makes me very happy .answering question.s on here does. my 4 yr old granddaughter.having good friends .having a partner. that you adore. there are so many things. hope you find yours.
2007-05-21 03:54:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being wholly. Feeling part of the creation. This could be found in the major Religions. I find it in the God as revealed by Jesus.
2007-05-21 04:00:19 · answer #9 · answered by Tamart 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is a daft concept. Total acceptance of my raging, black/red insanity.
2007-05-21 03:57:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋