The Article “Finding Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, expresses the choice we have in life to live or die until the end of days. He shows how we take control of our own destiny, and to not let distractions get in the way of our accomplishment. Csikszentmihalyi portrays that everyone has a different idea of accomplishment and goals, but living life to the fullest is shared by many. By saying this he means don’t waste your potential by letting side issues get in the way. In the article Csikszentmihalyi mentions a study held in a factory where most welders hated their jobs and found no passion in it. One individual named Joe became to love his work and found his passion loving what he did best. By using this experiment he shows that even though
Arguably, the happier an individual is, the better the quality of their life, and the better off they are. But despite this, there are people who will even argue that lower levels of happiness are the best because you maintain the ability to progress in life and your motivation is still present. Although many people will only see two sides to this argument, there is a totally different view that provides the optimal quality of life and the most beneficial outcome in the big picture; and that is moderate happiness.
The fictional town of Shyashyakook in David Duncan's novel, The Brothers K, cleverly portrays subjects such as culture, human instinct, and environment. Those three topics combined are used to enhance the theme of death and rebirth.Throughout the story one can find countless instances where a character has lost all hope and given up on their dreams, only to have their dreams resurrected and find their hope restored. When Duncan introduces the town, Shyashyakook, he describes a broken down place, once lovely and childishly innocence, that has become a place of full of hardship. But just like the human will, the people from this town continue to pick up their broken pieces and begin again. Including literary devices such as irony and sarcasm that boost the humanistic qualities that Shyashyakook possesses, one can discern that the town is a personification of a human overcoming the inescapable obstacles of life.
The main topic of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is eudaimonia, i.e. happiness in the “living well” or “flourishing” sense (terms I will be using interchangeably). In this paper, I will present Aristotle’s view on the role of external goods and fortune for the achievement of happiness. I will argue that he considers them a prerequisite for virtue. Their contribution to happiness is indirect, via the way they affect how we can engage in rational activity according to the relevant virtues. I will then object that this view threatens to make his overall account of happiness incoherent. Fortunately, there is a way to reconcile the apparent tensions, in book III.
Regret is an incurable disease caused by lies, distortion, and falsehood. People often try to find a cure for this disease or try to believe that regret is something that is easy to cure, however, it is not. Once an individual make themselves believe in a lie they tell themselves, the pain and suffering that comes with regret will continue to linger for a lifetime. Sinclair Ross’s short story, “The Painted Door” highlights the idea that individuals who deceive themselves in the chase for happiness often create a lifetime of regret.
Deception is the act of deceiving; or the state of being deceived, which is something of very powerful nature. Deception can cause people to believe things that may or may not be true. Deception in most cases is used when an individual has a certain motive that he or she is trying to achieve. In the play Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, deception is present when Bertilak uses his wife to deceive Sir Gawain, by having her to try to seduce Sir Gawain on three different occasions. Although Sir Gawain remains loyal to Bertilak, Sir Gawain still takes the girdle; therefore, in the end Sir Gawain is left with a sense of failure, proving that Bertilak attained the motive he was seeking.
Not all forms of deception are negative, although they are not all positive either. People have various reasons for deceiving others in real life, as well as in literature. William Shakespeare wrote many memorable plays during his time living. One of those plays was Much Ado About Nothing, which presented themes which are still relevant to our modern society. In Much Ado About Nothing, some of the protagonists, such as Don Pedro and Benedick, have good intentions when deceiving others, but others, like Don John, deceive others purely out of hatred. Shakespeare reveals the theme that people deceive others out of love, embarrassment, and hatred. All evidence comes from Much Ado About Nothing.
Desire satifacationist has many problems with happiness in the sense that desires can be based on false beliefs, disappointment, impoverished desires. The first one deals with false beliefs and can a person be really happy with false beliefs. According to Shafer-Landau “Fulfilling those desires based on false belief need not improve our welfare,” (p 47). If the false desires do not fulfill or improve our welfare, then why would you continue to peruse these false beliefs? Another problem is disappointing, with the desired certification. According to Shafer-Landau, “Getting what you really want can sometimes be a huge letdown,” (p 49). Most people will not feel happiness when it comes to a disappointment, it may make them more determined, but
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
“The art of pleasing is the art of deception.” This is a quote by Luc de Clapiers that truly applies to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Faust, Part I. Through the use of his characters, Goethe shows how one can easily be caught in the tangling web of deception. Throughout the course of the story, several characters are deceived by one another. It seems as if the deception follows a trickling down pattern. It first starts with God allowing Mephistopheles to tempt and deceive Faust. Then we move into Faust being deceived by Mephistopheles, or the devil. The deception, then flows through Faust and comes out to end with poor Gretchen.
Thus, conveyed in simpler terms, people are always on a quest for happiness. Society continuously expresses that to find true and inner peace in life one must ‘do what makes them happy’. However this quest for happiness comes with many strings attached. If one person’s ambitions become contradictory with the physical and emotional well-being of many, then that person is accused of being a criminal against society. Therefore, the interests of the society as a whole are put before the goals of one person.
What made you happy as a child? Children do not think of money as bringing happiness to their lives. The only things that matter are how they perceive pleasure, how much they feel loved, and what brings them joy. As people grow older, they may assume that the more money they have, the happier they will be. While there are many articles and research studies done on Happiness, I have chosen to write about Daniel Haybron’s article “Happiness and It’s Discontent,” and Diener and Biswas-Diener’s article “Can Money Buy Happiness.” Haybron suggests that satisfaction does not equate happiness, on the other hand Diener and Biswas-Diener uses satisfaction studies to measure happiness. Also, while Haybron’s article is mostly about the emotional state,
Hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory of welfare are typically seen as archrivals in the contest over identifying what makes one’s life better. It is surprising, then, that the most plausible form of hedonism is desire satisfactionism. The hedonism theory focuses on pleasure/happiness while the desire-satisfaction theory elucidates the relevance of fulfilling our desires. Pleasure, in some points of view is the subjective satisfaction of desire. I will explain the similarities and the differences between the desire-satisfaction theory of value and hedonism. I will also discuss the most successful theory and defend my argument by explaining how the theory.
“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness,” an article written by Jon Gertner, told that happiness is a futile thing. Printed in the New York Times Magazine, and published on September 7, 2003, it speaks about having high hopes for the future or finding happiness in the future would have no benefit. The author used research on happiness made by experts such as Daniel Gilbert, a professor in Psychology Department from Harvard University, and George Loewenstein, an economist from Carnegie-Mellon. He noted that our decisions in many circumstances are dependent on the emotional results from those circumstances. The author has noted that people don’t always know their requirements and start finding happiness in other places if they are unable to find them in one place. He goes on to state people adapt to the changing events of life, i.e. good and bad things becoming normal, as adaptation is a part of human development.
Opposing from The Great Gatsby’s representation of trustworthiness, A Streetcar Named Desire represents the ideology of trustworthiness through Blanches delusional thoughts, aggravated by her horrid past and silenced trauma. Many Character including Stella and Mitch place trust within Blanche who ultimately betrays them. Blanche’s representation of trust is through acts of sexual desire as she believe it to be a Method of coping for her past relationships. “[Blanche] [doesn’t] want realism. [Blanche] want[s] magic! [Mitch laughs] Yes, yes, magic! [Blanche] try[s] to give that to people. [Blanche] misrepresent things to them. [Blanche] [doesn’t] tell the truth, [Blanche] tell[s] what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! – Don’t turn the light on!” (William 9. 43). With such a large amount of mental deterioration to Blanche, its hard for her to decipher reality from fantasy. Blanche doesn’t see the repercussions of putting trust into people. Although Mitch speaks as a soft-spoken person who appreciates Blanche as well as respects her courage due to her background, he still doubts her and doesn’t regard Blanche as anything more than an acquaintance. Whereas Blanche informs Mitch about her and he only adds more of a mental torment. The paradoxical can be viewed with Blanche too, as she abuses trust within the people she meets along the way. Most notably with her sister Stella. Upon the arrival of Blanche, she gives very little reason as to why she decided to leave her residence and move in with her sister and brother in law. After word gets out about Blanches past, she