“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 350 B.C.
“He is Happy who lives in accordance with complete Virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life.”
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 350 B.C.
2300 years after their enunciation, Aristotelian Ethics, which introduced the “science of happiness”, encompass all the characteristics of the contemporary concept of subjective happiness: self-realization, finding a meaning and the flow of creative involvement with life. As a matter of fact, for Aristotle happiness does not mean fanatically applying rules and principles, but rather engaging with the texture of life, doing the right thing in every situation, even if it’s not immediately pleasurable but will bring the best outcome in the end. In his approach, instant gratification finds little place.
The philosopher pushes us to act towards goals that are inherently good, whose reward lies in their own experience, and not in the expectation of some future benefit. Acting this way, a person conquers that state of “flow” that is a decisive component of happiness and is guided to behave righteously and always aim at being the best version of himself.
Happiness, for Aristotle, depends on acquiring a moral character, where one displays the virtues of courage, generosity, justice, friendship, and citizenship in one’s life. As the main protagonist of our life, we need to choose virtuous actions on every occasion, while adapting to different circumstances. Virtue doesn’t have to be intended as a rigid set of rules and guidelines, but comes with flexibility in that every individual is unique, and being a good person through daily acts will vary from individual to individual. Each of us needs to get in touch with his/her conscience and find his/her ethical way of acting.
For Aristotle, the Virtuous behavior lies, at an individual level, in the “Golden Mean”: a middle way between excess and deficiency of certain characteristics that vary according to the nature of the individual. A passionate nature for example, would have a middle point in his fiery approach to life that would probably be considered an excess by someone with a mellower disposition. As soon as the philosopher begins to lay down some moral rules, he relaxes them in order to take into consideration the variety and contingency of particular temperaments.
Aristotle’s doctrine of the Mean is reminiscent of Buddha’s Middle Path, but there are intriguing differences. For Aristotle the mean was a method of achieving virtue, but for Buddha the Middle Path referred to a peaceful way of life which negotiated the extremes of harsh asceticism and sensual pleasure seeking. The Middle Path was a minimal requirement for the meditative life, and not the source of virtue in itself.
Compared to other philosophical views, Aristotle’s approach is indeed profoundly human, his philosophy is ingrained and centered around human experience. In our pursuit of happiness we can’t disregard limiting conditions such as primary needs for shelter, nourishment and social bonds in order to reach long lasting contentment and realization. For him, happiness requires the fulfillment of all our human potentialities and needs to have a theoretical as well as a pragmatic aspect.
“Ethics”, he says, “unlike the other branches of philosophy, has a practical aim. For we are not investigating the nature of being a good person for the sake of knowing what it is, but in order that we may become good, without which result our investigation would be of no use.” In other words, this ancient pillar of wisdom is telling us that talking about being good and doing good, or intellectually acknowledging ethical philosophy is of no benefit, if we don’t use this knowledge to actually modify our own ambitions, behavior and thoughts, towards ourselves and others. We need to ACT in a good way, not talk about or understand Virtue, but EXERCISE VIRTUE, a moral conduct, constantly, according to our own natural disposition and temperament.
The way in which we exercise virtue is by the active engagement with our own communities. Without engaging with others, he thought, we couldn’t possibly train and practice that Virtue that is at the origin of our happiness. A Virtue that “comes as the result of goodness, along with a learning process and effort”.
“Happiness depends on ourselves.” More than anybody else.
The Science of Happiness, the scientific study of “what makes happy people happy,” was arguably launched by Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi in the late 1980’s. Czikszentmihalyi pioneered the “Experience Sampling Method” to discover what he called the “psychology of optimal experience,” and specifically, the experience of Flow.
Positive Psychology could be regarded as a subset within the broader field we call the Science of Happiness, which extends to the natural as well as the social sciences. For example, Positive Psychology is largely focused on the study of positive emotions and “signature strengths,” yet the Science of Happiness extends, for example, to such areas as the impact of exercise on psychological well-being, or the effect of social media on happiness.
The term “Positive Psychology” was originally coined by the psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1950’s. He used the term somewhat loosely to call for a more balanced view of human nature, that is, to draw attention to human potentialities as well as psychological afflictions. In 2002, Martin Seligman popularized the expression Positive Psychology through his influential work “Authentic Happiness,” defining it as the study of positive emotions and the “strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive.”
Ethics are the basic principles which lays the foundation for the structure to be built; whereas the logic is the practical and feasible option for constructing the designed structure. Ethics is the basic moral background which makes a person lay specific guidelines on which the life is to be spent.
The relationship between ethics and science has been discussed within the framework of continuity versus discontinuity theories, each of which can take several forms. Continuity theorists claim that ethics is a science or at least that it has deep similarities with the modus operandi of science.
Ethics, science, logic, happiness, and wet clay…
“The whole a mole against enemy espionage never ends
The immense swirling flow wow spinning glow upon poetry
Memories burning glass mystery insense fragrant transcends
Human existence is the summit shouts no ones property!!”
