Ebook Can We Raise the Level of Happiness?
The concept of happiness has been popular throughout written history. When attempting to visualize the human life of 200 or 2000 years ago, the first assumption that springs to mind is that the preconditions for thinking about happiness were lacking. The conditions of life were often cruel to the common man and most were unable to read or write. Even when more people were equipped with the necessary skills, there was not much to read apart from religious literature, primarily, the Bible. There one could find messages that would remind them of their present condition.
However, there is a well-known philosophical tradition that traces back to antiquity. Its best-known representative is Aristotle who, in his Nichomachean ethics, describes very modern ideas of happiness. He used the concept of “eudaimonia” to describe a flourishing, favoured and virtuous life. Both prosperity and virtue bring happiness to a person who can combine these two wisely (McMahon 2006, 45–47).The concept of virtue-based eudaimonia or “blessedness” has been transformed into an emotional state only very recently. In essence, happiness may at present mean concepts and ideas such as:
- Virtuous life
- Material satisfaction
- Blessedness (by God)
- Contentment
- Hope for something better
- Utopia (varying definitions)
- Pleasure
- Inner peace of mind
- A highly positive emotional state
Though all these concepts share the common idea of unattainability, pleasure and material satisfaction are easier to achieve than virtuous life or peace of mind. Also, it seems easy to hope for something better if we do not need care about the realization of those hopes. However, the prevailing view has been that happiness is difficult to achieve, and can only be reached by chosen ones in the present, or later in the afterlife or in a utopian society of the future. Table 1 lists the different strategies to achieve happiness which have prevailed since Aristotle.
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