How 11 famous philosophers define happiness

Happiness is one of the most difficult words to define. The happiness of the mystic has nothing to do with that of the man of power, or with that of the ordinary person.

Just as in everyday life we ​​find different definitions of this feeling, we also find In philosophy there are various approaches to this matter. We will show you some of them below.

1. Aristotle and metaphysical happiness

For Aristotle, the most prominent of the metaphysical philosophers, Happiness is the maximum aspiration of all human beings. The way to achieve it, from his point of view, is virtue. That is to say, if you cultivate the highest virtues, you will be happy.

More than a specific state, Aristotle indicates that it is a lifestyle. The characteristic of that lifestyle is to constantly exercise the best that each human being has. It is also necessary to cultivate prudence of character and have a good “daimon” (good destiny or good luck). That is why his thesis about this feeling is known as “eudaimonia”.

Aristotle provided the philosophical foundation on which the Christian church was built. Hence there is a great similarity between what this thinker proposes and the principles of the Judeo-Christian religions.

2. Epicurus and hedonistic happiness

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who had great contradictions with metaphysicians. Unlike these, I didn’t believe that happiness came only from the spiritual world, but it also had to do with more earthly dimensions. In fact, he founded the “School of Happiness.” From this, he came to interesting conclusions.

He postulated the principle that balance and temperance were what gave rise to happiness. That approach was captured in one of his great maxims:

I thought that love had little to do with happinessHowever, friendship does. He also insisted on the idea that one should not work to obtain goods, but for the love of what one does.

3. Kant and happiness as a duty

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed that be happy It is one of the supreme duties of the human being. According to this philosopher, this is built from our character and the ethics with which we direct our behavior. That is to say, Happiness is an obligation, but, at the same time, our actions have to make us worthy of deserving it.

4. Nietzsche and the critique of happiness

Nietzsche believed that living peacefully and without any worries is a desire typical of mediocre people, who do not give greater value to life. Nietzsche opposes the concept of “bliss” to that of “happiness”. Bliss means “being well,” thanks to favorable circumstances, or good fortune. However, this is an ephemeral condition.

Bliss would be a kind of “ideal state of laziness”, that is, not having any worries, any shocks. On the other hand, happiness is a vital force, a spirit of struggle against all obstacles that limit freedom and self-affirmation.

To be happy, then, is to be able to taste the vital force, by overcoming adversity and creating original ways of living.

5. Bertrand Russell and happiness in love and gratitude

For Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, Happiness can only be achieved through the experience of love and gratitude. Love, according to this author, allows us to overcome ego and vanity and, by recognizing ourselves as equals, we can achieve happiness.

Of course, this path is arduous, it involves work, dedication and commitment. No one accesses this highest good without effortbecause leaving selfishness behind and building bonds of solidarity with others is a permanent job.

6. José Ortega y Gasset and happiness as a confluence

For Ortega y Gasset, happiness is configured when “the projected life” and “the effective life” coincide. That is, when what we want to be comes together with what we really are.

So, All human beings have the potential and desire to be happy.. This means that each person defines what realities can make them happy. If he can truly build those realities, then he will be blessed.

7. Lao Tzu and happiness as a present

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

Lao Tzu stated that The true reason for happiness is to live in the present. It happens here and now, therefore, it is necessary to be fully in every moment of this life. Those who live in the memories of yesterday and the longing for tomorrow only generate anxiety, stress, and stop enjoying and delighting every moment.

8. John Stuart Mill and happiness as pleasure

“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires instead of satisfying them.”

He was one of the main authors of utilitarianism, and maintained that The desire to be happy is inherent in every human being. Mill considered happiness as the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, but not all pleasures are equally valuable, since there are higher and lower ones, and our actions must be focused on achieving the former.

9. Henry David Thoreau and happiness as living intensely

“Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and gently rest on your shoulder.”

In 1845 Thoreau leaves his home to live in a cabin next to Lake Walden, but why? “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to face only the essential facts of life, and see if he could not learn what it had to teach, lest when he was about to die he would discover that he had not lived“.

As a consequence of this adventure, Thoreau writes Waldena book against all servitude and in favor of Happiness is the only and greatest wealth of the human being, which comes from living intensely in the moment.

10. Epictetus and happiness as freedom

“Happiness is not about wanting things, but about being free”.

Holding on to things distances us from joy and emotional balance. Attachment also generates an irrational fear of loss, which takes us further and further away from the paths of happiness. Therefore, for Epictetus, happiness consisted of achieving the freedom that comes from freedom from attachment and being aware that we do not need many things: “Wealth is not having many possessions, but few desires”.

11. Slavoj Zizek and happiness as a paradox

This philosopher indicates that being happy is a matter of opinion and not a matter of truth. He considers it a product of capitalist values, which implicitly promise eternal satisfaction through consumption.

However, Dissatisfaction reigns in human beings because they don’t really know what they want.. Everyone believes that if he achieved something (buying a thing, raising her status, etc.) he could be happy. But, in reality, unconsciously, what he wants to achieve is something else and that is why he remains dissatisfied. A point that is explained very clearly in this video.

To conclude, the conceptions of happiness of these great thinkers open up different paths for us to seek such long-awaited good. In the midst of a society that increasingly invites us to consume to be happy, the ideas of these philosophers are innovative and revolutionary.

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