Plato's Concept Of Happiness And Happiness In Plato

Examining one’s life can bring many joys. There are many things that give people the idea that their lives are meaningful. These ideas could be the pursuit of pleasure and happiness, entertainment, sports, power and money, possessions and security, being famous and success, meeting other people, knowledge and every other thing that can give the smallest amount of happiness to the person. In the apology Plato describes Socrates’ venture to question people would were wise and content with their wisdom, but when they asked a series of questions to test their wisdom they were revealed not to be wise and were now upset. The flaw in that was that these people did not examine what had happened to them and did not learn from it. This easily relates

Before I begin my arguments against Aristotle’s ideas of the purpose of a human being and his definition of happiness, I will provide some background

Everyone defines happiness differently, but everyone needs happiness. The book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse talks about how Siddhartha finds happiness through many ways. He leaves home and his friend, Govinda, to find enlightenment. He starves himself, he learns love, he thinks of suicide… Fortunately, he meets a ferryman, who becomes his best friend also his “teacher”, and helps him find the ultimate way to achieve enlightenment. Siddhartha abandons his relationships, money, and education which bring him happiness, and in the twenty first century, these still bring happiness as the essential steps to take.

The outstanding ways that people can be brainwashed. Hitler was a dictator that didn't so much brainwash people he would just capture them and make them slaves in World War ll. In the book Anthem, they have been taught to think a certain way and make them live the way they want. Comparing the Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, and then putting Anthem next to it, it shows that Hitler was a dictator that did not care about anyone.

In Plato’s Gorgias, Callicles is attempting the explain how to live the best life to Socrates. Callicles says, “…the man who’ll live correctly ought to allow his own appetites to get as large as possible and not to restrain them. And when they are as large as possible, he ought to be competent to devote himself to them…” (492a). However, not all men are able to live this indulgent lifestyle of fulfilling their pleasures; Callicles also says that the weak majority, those who are unable to satisfy their own pleasures because they lack the courage to fulfill their own, praise temperance and justice because they want to “conceal their impotence” (492a). Since they are incompetent at satisfying

Socrates was a true believer that true pleasure only comes when individuals live a moral life. He believed that an individual’s inner life, or the soul, is the most important part of life. Each person must keep his or her soul healthy, by seeking truth, self-knowledge, justice, and goodness. Socrates believed that any soul in search of fame, wealth, and power becomes ignorant, sickly, and weak (Claudia, 270). He was concerned with strengthening his inner self by examining and criticizing it. He was not concerned with finding what people would seek since this could only lead to a weak, sick, and ignorant soul. Therefore, Socrates remained committed to his guns and never told the court what it wanted to hear.

Socrates was convinced that our souls are where virtues and vices are found, they are vastly more important for our lives than our bodies or external circumstances. The quality of our souls determines the character of our lives, for better or for worse, much more than whether we are healthy or sick, or rich or poor. If we are to live well and happily, as he assumed we all want to do more than we want anything else, we must place the highest priority on the care of our souls. That means we must above all want to acquire the virtues, since they perfect our souls and enable them to direct our lives for the better. If only we could know what each of the virtues is we could then make an effort to obtain them. As to the nature of the virtues,

According to the teachings of Socrates, “one must never intentionally inflict wrong on another, even when one has been wronged oneself.” In stating this, Socrates is validating the belief that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” In essence, Socrates believed that one cannot cure one evil by committing another, because in doing so the person is just hurting themselves. According to Crito however, it is acceptable to willingly do wrong depending on the circumstances. Crito explains that justice can only be truly served if one returned evil for evil as many believed, he uses Socrates situation to support his claims. Crito clarifies that the city of Athens wronged Socrates first, therefore, Socrates has the right to escape form the prison and break the law. Based on Crito’s claims it is understood

According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of happiness is “a state of well-being and contentment.” However, the word happiness has a much more complex meaning and is hard to describe. In Daniel Gilbert’s “Does Fatherhood Make You Happy?” he discusses the apparent happiness that comes with the privilege of being a parent. Howard C. Cutler and The Dalai Lama take a different approach in their section “Inner Contentment.” They explain the false feeling of satisfaction that people acquire from material items. The differences between these two entries are limit while the similarities are very prominent. Gilbert and Cutler’s writings were similar in various ways but also had some factors that differed.

In Mark Kingwell’s excerpt, “In Pursuit of Happiness,” he discusses the challenge of defining happiness. This work serves to inform the audience on a topic they may never have considered while using evidence and support from philosophers, authors, and even scientists to contribute to various viewpoints on the subject. At the end of the excerpt, Kingwell discusses happiness, even unhappiness, and concludes with his own opinions on the subject.

Who I am today has primarily been dictated by the environment in which I have been raised. I will continue to be molded throughout my life, but now I am entering a period of my life where I will be the one deciding who I am. Today, I am not the person I want to be and not the person who many perceive me to be, but am striving to become the man I want to be.

It is a fundamental aspect of society and of mankind that individuals seek their own happiness. Almost every aspect of life centres on the importance of self-fulfillment, and throughout history, the often selfish nature of man loans itself to the idea that life is about pursuing one’s own happiness. In a perfect world, the search for satisfaction in life would go unheeded, and every man would come to realize a perfect sense of self. Unfortunately, there are often many challenges and compromising aspects of society that inhibit individuals from achieving happiness. In Timothy Findley’s 1977 novel, The Wars, the nature in which individuals pursue and or compromise their happiness is explored through the actions of characters,

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.

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. Understanding Aristotelian happiness is important for the 21st century because

“We were all humans until, race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.”