I had not intended to take this long in posting, but family is visiting and we're catching up and seeing the sights.
Lesson 3 in the series is about happiness, but not the emotional, fleeting sort. Rather, Aristotle discusses what it means to have a happy lifetime, from beginning to end.
I have never given a great deal of thought to what makes a happy lifetime -- not just this moment, day, month, year, decade, but lifetime.
What makes a full, happy life of seven or eight decades? And are there general principles to achieve this that apply to everyone?
Aristotle claims there are. Prof. Arnn claims that it has only been in the last couple of centuries that people have started thinking that there aren't, that a happy life can be a completely individual thing and that the principles that create a happy life for one may create a miserable life for another.
What do you think? Are there general principles for a happy lifetime that apply to everyone? If so, what are they?
10 comments:
"... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" pretty well sums it up. That and "Don't take like so seriously. You'll never get out of it alive anyway".
As for the legalities of happiness, I'm good with that. I am not looking for a society that forces happiness upon its people.
But what is a happy lifetime?
I had a buddy for a few years who was an atheist and decided hedonism was the way to go. He enjoyed drinking, drank every day, and cheerfully acknowledged he was an alcoholic. He enjoyed good cigars, too. He made a point of never having serious romantic relationships, but rather kept 2 or 3 girlfriends at a time. He was honest about it and told them that was his lifestyle. Never planned to marry or have kids. He worked just enough to pay the bills, have some fun, and keep himself in bourbon, but no more. Didn't have any particular plan to change any of this as he got older, either.
Eventually I stopped hanging out with him. Turns out I'm one of those people for whom hedonism is no fun. Reports from mutual friends say that, years after we stopped hanging out, he is still living this way.
In the end, will we say he's had a happy lifetime?
If you ask if he should be free to live his life this way, I will say yes, absolutely.
But I think he's missing out on a lot. I don't think, in the end, that his lifestyle will produce a happy lifetime, as physically pleasurable as it may be for a time.
John Adams' definition of happiness:
All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
That, it seems to me, adds up to a happy lifetime. And it doesn't force any particular form of happiness, or happiness itself, on anyone.
Eric Hines
I learned Aristotle’s definition as a teenager, and it was like a thunderbolt. That happiness is an activity, and that you therefore could be in control of whether you were happy or not! And then he could even tell you the particular activity that constituted the state!
I still think he is right.
Mr. Hines, are you saying that just having the freedom itself is happiness? Or actually doing those things, actively using those liberties, is happiness?
I don't see how merely having the liberty to do things can in and of itself make a happy life. I have the liberty to pursue happiness, but if I don't use that liberty, I won't have happiness. I have the freedom to acquire, possess, and protect property, but I won't actually have property if I don't do something with that freedom.
And I still wonder if an American with all of that liberty would be happy if he lived a life of cowardice, dishonesty, greed, and selfishness. I don't think so. I don't think cowardly, dishonest, greedy, selfish people are happy, regardless of what liberties they have.
Tom, first, I'm quoting Adams, not myself; although I agree with him.
Second, the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. Adams didn't contemplate folks sitting around saying, "I have a right; I'm golden." He believed that folks acting was subsumed in it. That is, after all, the bit about personal responsibility also widely held at the time, albeit not written into that early constitution.
Eric Hines
Sure, but you indicated your agreement with him, so that's why I asked you.
It makes a lot more sense with action included, even though implied.
I do wish some way had been found to include a bit about personal responsibility in our founding documents, though that's not terribly relevant to this discussion. I know the power to compel action is dangerous and can see reasons for having left it out, but even so.
And what about the free American who uses the liberty to pursue happiness and property using it in pursuit of vice? Do you think a greedy, selfish, dishonest, cowardly person can be said to have a happy life?
Do you think a greedy, selfish, dishonest, cowardly person can be said to have a happy life?
It wouldn't seem happy to me, but it's not my happiness such a person (or anyone) is pursuing, but only his own. Still, in Adamsian terms, I don't think so--it's his own property, for instance, he should be seeking to acquire, protect, and possess, not others', and he should be seeking it honestly, not dishonestly.
And there's the practical matter: if we all have to expend resources defending our property and protecting our own safety against the greed and dishonesty of many, then we cannot acquire as much as we could were our society populated only with a few greedy and dishonest ones. Hence the need, too, for a virtuous people in the main.
Eric Hines
Good points, all. The general happiness is greater if we are all virtuous. That seems pretty clear to me.
Ben Franklin said (or so I'm told) that “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
So now that you've explored your question, are you ready to say what happiness is?
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