Can True Happiness be Achieved - 690 Words

In society today there is a common understanding that true happiness can never be achieved. Moreover, that the purpose of life is to suffer and to work until death. This thought raises many questions about the steps to take in order to achieve true happiness. The struggle to answer these questions goes above and beyond minds because humans are made so distinctly that the definition varies from person to person. But if true happiness is in fact achievable, it will be attained only when we are one with ourselves, with what we produce, and with the people that surround us. Stoicism was established in approximately 300 B.C.E by Greek philosopher, and mathematician, Zeno, and included philosophers such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. (Soccio†¦show more content†¦Continuing the search for true happiness,philosopher Karl Marx supported the idea of becoming one with ourselves and the product thereof. Due to the multiple possible interpretations of Marx, his philosophy can be confusing to some. To understand how this relates to finding true happiness is as simple as understanding â€Å"Alienation.† Alienation, is a term used by Marx to explain how a person can become separated from their soul and hearts. The term alienation is described as, â€Å"A state of powerlessness, frustration, repressed resentment, and despair† (Soccio 386). In other words, to take the second step towards true happiness it is necessary to become the reverse, unalienation. The term, unalianation, can be described as becoming one with yourself and that thing th at we create. It is a fact that most humans cannot be truly happy. In fact, the search for true happiness is a never ending struggle. Therefore, taking a look into why we cant find happiness, can perhaps be explained by the reasons of why we suffer. The human nature is a cycle, where there is birth, growth, and death, but in between all of that, there is more suffering than happiness. Take the following philosopher for example; Buddha, a rich prince that while shielded from all that is bad was able to find true meaning in life only when he found pain and suffering. â€Å"Socrates, a well known philosopher that was loved by many, was punished to death by poisoning after being found guiltyShow MoreRelatedTo What Extent Can True Happiness Be Achieved with Limited Freedom? 1690 Words   |  7 Pagesstability. People are not allowed any knowledge of the past, and everything is only explained to the most basic of truth. The freedoms we enjoy today are almost completely abolished. Natura lly, we associate happiness with the ability to do whatever your want in life, so if we didn’t have this ability, can we still be happy in life? In the novel, it seems to be achievable on the surface, but when you look deeper, it shows that human beings respond to their environment in different ways. The reason that theRead More Can Happiness Be Achieved? Essay1010 Words   |  5 Pagesattempted to seek out what happiness truly is, and, if possible, how to achieve this happiness. The idea of what happiness is has changed often, and is dependent on the environment that the people live in. The era and the ideologies of that time period, the community, and who the people interact with all affect the idea of what happiness truly is. Because of this, what happiness is, and how to achieve it, will be continually changing. The true meaning and idea of happiness could perhaps never be trulyRead MoreUtilitarianism : A Philosophical Concept That Was Taught By John Stuart Mill931 Words   |  4 Pagescomparing it to Kant’s belief and view of moral philosophy as encompassed in achievement of happiness. 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The psychological immuneRead MoreHappiness and Impossible Standards in Aristotles The Nicomachean Ethics563 Words   |  3 PagesHumans, throughout recorded history, have searched for a proper way of living which would lead them to ultimate happiness; the Nicomachean Ethics, a compilation of lecture notes on the subject written by Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most celebrated philosophical works dedicated to this study of the way. As he describes it, happiness can only be achieved by acting in conformity with virtues, virtues being established by a particular culture’s ideal person operating at their top capacityRead MorePlatos Symposium : The Nature Of Love1592 Words   |  7 Pagesevidence reinforcing Aristophanes’ story to be one i n which immortality is the end goal, and that we are made to realize Socrates’ speech is really a further elaboration on what Aristophanes put forward, providing the tools to truly comprehend his true point. 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