The pursuit of happiness is probably the main goal for each person on the earth. People have very different concepts on what can be considered real happiness. During the history of humanity, there existed outstanding people who put a lot of efforts into explaining this complicated notion of happiness. Among the most successful between them, Aristotle can be mentioned. In the following paper, his concept on seeing the good life in a life of intellectual contemplation will be discussed. Generally, evaluating the facts, it can be said that Aristotle’s concept of happiness is authentic, and happiness for a number of people is truly in acquiring knowledge, but this is not always true as there exist many other concepts of real happiness, and all of them are true for certain categories of people they address.
First of all, evaluating Aristotle’s conclusion that the good life is a life of intellectual contemplation, it can be said that this concept truly works for a number of people including scientists, philosophers and the other men of knowledge (Aristotle, n. d.). These people see satisfaction in acquiring more facts and understanding the world around them in a better way. In addition, knowledge and intellectual contemplation present the person with wisdom and shrewdness. These qualities, in turn, make the person’s life better, and make the person happier, as a result. This is the fact which was long ago confirmed by the person who is considered to be the wisest person of all men, King Solomon (Russell, 1930). Solomon who possessed all the riches of the world existing during those days, had hundreds of the most beautiful wives and concubines, had great and satisfying “work” so to say, had hundreds of children and saw all the wonders of contemporary world, said that happiness comes from intellectual contemplation and wisdom. However, there exist the other group of people for whom intellectual contemplation and knowledge present nothing more than burden and even grief. This is explained by their world perception and values. Of course, such people will never agree with Aristotle.
Speaking about the other ways of life that could bring happiness, the lifestyle of consumption comes in mind. This is how our modern world is built. Western values globally propagated among people assume seeing happiness in possessing material values, and the more the better. In addition, people see happiness in having good health and strong family with nice children. The other concept of happiness which is gaining its momentum nowadays is in being as beautiful as possible. People are ready to sacrifice everything including their health and even lives to look better (Baird & Kaufmann, 2007). The common concept of happiness existing among people for centuries can be seen in the following words by Baird & Kaufmann: “ most people would probably agree: for both the common run of people and cultivated men call it happiness, and understand by “being happy” the same as “living well” and “doing well” (2000, p. 56). The differences between the common person’s definition of happiness and the philosopher’s one area in their values as common people value material things, and philosophers value knowledge (Potkay, 2000). With regards to the branch of philosophy studying the issues related to happiness, it should be stated that it is metaphysics. However, the other branches also come across the problems of being happy or unhappy person. Among them are social philosophy and ethics.
In conclusion, happiness is a category which is defined individually.
References
Aristotle.(n. d.). Web.
Baird, F. E., & Kaufmann, W. E. (2000). Ancient philosophy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Baird, F., & Kaufmann, W. (2007). Philosophic Classics, Volume III: Modern Philosophy (5th ed.). The United States: Prentice Hall.
Potkay, A. (2000). The Passion for Happiness: Samuel Johnson and David Hume. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Web.
Russell, B. (1930). The Conquest of Happiness. New York: Horace Liveright. Web.