We are taught at a very young age that we are to seek out
happiness, yet no one really knows what that is. When you are a child,
happiness could be found by playing with toys, and schoolmates. When we
are children, our concept of happiness is minimal. As years passed, our
concept of happiness becomes much more expansive. We are schooled to
think that if we succeed at something, whether it is at a career,
college or in relationships, we are seeking to be happy. Some people
seek out happiness through religion, or a spiritual leader, "Whoso
trusteth in the Lord is happy" (Proverbs 4:7). It seems that everyone
has their own idea as to what makes them happy. It becomes ingrained in
us that seeking happiness is the point of our existence. To find
happiness, then we will be living a complete life. What makes happiness,
or better yet, where happiness exists is a question that has been
pondered by many great thinkers. Aristotle and Immanuel Kant had quite a
bit to say on the subject. Both of these well-known philosophers have a
road map, if you will, to happiness. Yet, their theories differ
ultimately in how to go about attaining happiness.
Aristotle wrote
that we choose happiness always for itself, and never for the sake of
something else. He believed happiness to be the end, and it is
self-sufficient. It is the end at which all-virtuous actions aim. It
must be some good, or set of goods that in itself makes it worth living.
There are two features Aristotle believes must be present in the notion
of happiness. One is that it must be an end rather than a means. For
example, I find out that by being cheerful I make money, so I go about
making money by having a cheerful disposition. Ultimately, my aim is to
make money, so according to Aristotle, my happiness is to be found in
riches. Because I found out that by being cheerful (which is not the
same as being happy) I could make money, I adopt the attitude that by
being cheerful I can attain riches. Aristotle disagrees with that
because my ultimate goal it to get riches, it is not to be happy.
The
second is that happiness is self sufficient in itself. It is to be
sought only for itself, and not for the sake of anything else. Aristotle
specifically mentions the life of gratification (pleasure, comfort,
etc.), the life of moneymaking, the life of political action, and the
philosophical life, i.e., the life of contemplation or study. He has no
patience with the life of moneymaking or the life of gratification. Yet,
Aristotle does agree that living a life of comfort is pleasurable.
He
also writes that it is only through the virtues that happiness can ever
be experienced. Virtues are habits of the soul by which one acts well,
i.e. for the sake of what is fine and noble. As Aristotle puts it,
virtuous actions express correct (right) reason. They are acquired
through practice and habituation. One becomes virtuous by acting
virtuously, i.e. by acting as the virtuous person acts, doing what one
should when one should and in the way, one should. The virtuous person
comes to take pleasure in acting virtuously (hence, one sign that we
have not acquired a certain virtue is that when we perform actions of
the sort associated with that virtue; we do not take pleasure in those
actions but instead find them burdensome). Similarly, one becomes
deficient by allowing certain defective ways of acting to become
habitual. A person can acquire bad, as well as good habits. Virtue is
difficult to attain, since if we simply follow our inclinations, we fail
to realize our potential. Even though we have a natural desire for
happiness, our inborn inclinations often lead us away from our true
happiness. Some never achieve virtuous activity, and only pursue what
immediately feels good. Self-gratification should not be the direct
target of our actions. It is impossible to attain happiness without
pursuing what is good and true. Intellectual and moral virtues are
necessary, and must be habitual.
There are rules about what is virtuous
and what is not. Everyone is capable of being virtuous, yet not everyone
will be. Human beings are capable of learning, and through many years
of careful study, a virtuous being can reach a complete and whole life.
A
person is not born virtuous, although at the time of birth, a person is
born with the senses. It is not until many years of learning, that a
human learns how to utilize these senses. It is important to note, that
it takes time to learn, and mature to be able to develop virtue. For
example, a child because of its young age has not experienced the
necessary needed lessons that life teaches to be virtuous.
Aristotle
wrote that a life of pleasure, a life of politics, and a life of study
were essential to a complete and whole life. Living a complete life
involves these goals. Living your goals in accordance with virtue is how
to attain happiness. In other words, we have a responsibility to do
what is worth doing, as well as doing what we are good at doing. This
will lead to the supreme good, which is the end, which is happiness. For
example, the pursuit of wealth was ruled out because money is only as
good as to what it can buy. It is how someone spends their money that
shows us where they really think happiness lies. Is it on luxury, or to
gain political power, or perhaps on spending it on the less fortunate?
Those are what determine if a person is on the right road towards
happiness.
According to Immanuel Kant, the road map towards
happiness is not as black and white. Kant thought that the means to
happiness could not be clearly known. Kant believed there was too much
ambiguity in defining personal happiness, thus making it unsuitable as a
basis for morality. Kant holds that the pursuit of a person's own
happiness or interest is of no moral worth whatsoever. Kant insists that
we can never determine whether an action is good or right by
considering its effects on one's happiness. He thought that a human is
incapable of reasoning happiness to its principle. Happiness is
indefinite, and although everyone wishes for happiness, he/she can never
really know his/her true wishes and wills. Instead of searching for
happiness, he found that the moral law constructed by reason is what a
person should be seeking. Kant believes this to be the categorical
imperative. The categorical imperative is any statement of moral
obligation, which I make the principle of my action (my "maxim" in Kant
vocabulary). The categorical imperative refers to the principle that all
principles of our action (maxims) could consistently become universal
laws.
Happiness is both too indefinite, and to empirical to serve
as grounds for moral obligation. No two people share the exact same
tastes. Nor does everyone share the same interests and goals. Simply,
what makes one person happy does not necessarily make another person
happy. Everyone's experiences are different; experience is necessary to
attain happiness. In other words, I cannot know that something will make
me happy by just thinking of it. Kant says that it is not possible to
know a priori before an action whether it really will be conducive to
our own happiness. The desire for our own happiness cannot serve as a
motivator to determine our will to do this or that action. Our own
desire to be happy cannot be completely known. Happiness is not good
without qualification. According to Kant, the only thing that is good
without qualification is a good will.
Roxanne Tracy is a freelance writer covering many different
topics. She is a Social Worker who runs a donation program for a foster
care agency.
