Gordon Rattray Taylor (1911 - 1981) ‘Conditions of Happiness’ (Taylor) by Gordon Rattray Taylor, by far, offers a detailed analytic, diagnostic and synthetic framework approach to happiness of the contemporary society. His quest begins from the realization that ‘modern civilization makes many people deeply unhappy, corrupting the personalities of some and driving a shocking number to escape from their problems in mental breakdown or self destruction’ which he calls as ‘crisis of happiness’. His insistence on having a wider perspective of things both in seeking to understand the experience of happiness per se, and the factors that cause its experience. He argues that most of the writers on happiness of that time seek to emphasize either on …show more content…
He is known for his contributions to the field of mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. He emerges as one of the foremost humanist thinkers of 20th century as he himself mentions, ‘Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.’ With leanings towards socialism, his views on World War I as a kind of mass insanity was known to have attracted the ire of many powerful people. A recipient of Nobel Prize for literature, his works range from profound treatises to number of popular essays. Russell treats happiness as a central theme in one of his works titled, ‘The conquest of happiness’ (Russell, 1930). The book is neatly arranged with two halves, the first outlining the causes of unhappiness and the second, causes of happiness. Incidentally, the first chapter, ‘What makes people unhappy?’ serves as introduction and the last chapter, ‘The happy man’, as conclusion of the book. The structure clearly suggests that one has to first deal with causes of unhappiness efficiently in order to explore …show more content…
You cannot therefore get away from envy by means of success alone..’ (Russell, 1930, p. 89) 6. The sense of sin Here, Russell alludes to the sense of guilt inherent in the Christian tradition in reference to the original sin which the Semitic religions have exploited always. 7. Persecution mania Russell feels that it is impossible to be happy if one feels that one is ill-treated by everybody else. Identifying the cause of this attitude he says, ‘Persecution mania is always rooted in a too exaggerated conception of our own merits.’ (Russell, 1930, p. 114) He ends this section by giving four maxims that help in overcoming this attitude. They are: a. Remember that your motives are not always altruistic as they seem to yourself’ b. Don’t overestimate your own merits. c. Don’t expect others to take as much interest in you as you do in yourself. d. Don’t imagine that most people give enough thought to you to have any desire to persecute you. 8. Fear of public
In his article "In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living from Plato to Prozac," Mark Kingwell describes how there has been many debates on the meaning of happiness for many years yet still a singular, justifiable definition eludes society. The pursuit to define and understand happiness has invited several debates, questions, arguments, and suggestions alike. In 1996, a hand full of genetic and behavioral studies suggest evidence that one’s achievable degree of happiness is genetically decided, with evidences showing that no achievement will change your happiness, you are either happy or you’re not. Some studies demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of personal satisfaction, while others indicated that
This is achieved through adding a sense of realism as to how happiness should be experienced. Thus, it provides tangible means for people to grasp an abstract concept such as happiness. As a result, this enables her to persuade readers to take up her advice. For example, she draws links between the need to experience happiness with others through studies and real-life evidence regarding the lack of the time spent with others e.g., only 24 hours a year spent socialising (Whippman, 2017). This shows us the real-life implication of our actions in search of isolated happiness which has caused an unintended outcome on us as we are supposed to share joyous moments together.
In Happiness: Enough Already, Sharon Begley makes a case for the modern views of happiness and sadness by providing different professional opinions on the the happiness industry, some believe happiness is the sole purpose of life while others believe it is equal to sadness. Jerome Wakefield, a professor at New York University, is approached by many students with complaint concerning their parents’ opinions on dealing with depression, which consist of antidepressants and counseling. Ed Diener, a psychologist, at the University of Illinois, raised to question the idea of a national index of happiness to the Scottish Parliament. Eric Wilson, a professor, at Wake Forest University, tried to embrace becoming happier but ended up embracing the importance
One of the most powerful thinkers and greatest philosophers of
As humans, I came to realize how cruel the human mind can be, in perspective of others might be acceptable to accomplish a goal. Big brother, couldn’t bear with the fact that his younger brother had a disability. In fact, he felt his brother to be a burden. Majority of the time, admitting “To discourage his coming
She addresses that many individuals are being influenced too much by societal pressure, and create prejudicial stereotypes. However, she also addresses the idea that strong willed individuals are able to go against the current accepted values. In other words, many people’s perspective is being influenced
118. The vision you have for life may not be the vision life has for you. 119. Prejudice is often times disguised a reason. 120.
In “The Happy Man”, Mahfouz skillfully introduces the happy man’s inner altercation. “He felt slightly worried... It occurred to him that he might recall the tragedies of his life so that he could test their effect on his happiness. Perhaps they would be able to bring back some idea of balance or security, at least until his happiness began to flag a little.” (412)
“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” (Zora Neale Hurston).
What Happiness Is In the essay “What Happiness Is,” Eduardo Porter states that happiness is a slippery concept. He believes that happiness doesn’t have a specific definition, it means different things to each person. In the essay happiness is broken down into 3 parts: satisfaction, positive feelings, and the absence of negative feelings. Porter says that most people think that money and economic stability will bring them happiness and because of that they will push themselves to do better at their jobs.
One would think prejudice is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that is not the case, prejudice is still a common factor in todays society. Vincent N. Parrillo’s essay “Causes of Prejudice,” helped me to understand how we are affected not just psychologically but in a sociological way as well, as John A. Camacho explains in his A Few Bad Apples opinion piece published in the Pacific Daily News. Both forms of prejudice are continued to be explained through Stud Turkel’s “C.P Ellis,” he gives us an understanding of psychological and sociological prejudice through C.P Ellis’own experiences. This furthers our understanding on how we can be affected by both psychological and sociological prejudices.
People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the
Our life experiences make our present, our values, our way of behaving and thinking. Although no one is perfect, we are prone to develop prejudice against those who are totally different from us. For most of the time, prejudice only affects us personally. But if an individual is given a power to be responsible for another person’s live or death, prejudice can turn into a deadly weapon.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the concept of happiness is introduced as the ultimate good one can achieve in life as well as the ultimate goal of human existence. As Aristotle goes on to further define happiness, one can see that his concept is much different from the 21st-century view. Aristotelian happiness can be achieved through choosing to live the contemplative life, which would naturally encompass moralistic virtue. This differs significantly from the modern view of happiness, which is heavily reliant on material goods. To a person in the 21st-century, happiness is simply an emotional byproduct one experiences as a result of acquiring material goods.
A collection of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches had attempted to define happiness and analyze its connections. Researchers have found that about 50% of people happiness depends on our genes, based on studies of identical twins, whose happiness was 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses. About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of intentional factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Studies have also found that most of us are born with a fixed “set point” of happiness that we fall in throughout our lives.