Happiness: Dimension Lifes Worth - Essay Example

?With the recent tragedies that have daunted the world, as though attesting to the prophecies claiming that the end is drawing near, it seems worthwhile to contemplate on how well life has been lived and to consider possible changes that can still be achieved given the uncertain time left. Yet in doing this, it is quite tempting to look at life as a measure of happiness which, unfortunately, is often constrained by earthly standards. Rarely does a man claim to have a perfect life. Difficulties are inevitable and even if they are not, man would always strive for more of what there is. For this reason, happiness seems to be unreachable. Yet if one would look at happiness not on the basis of fulfilled desires, perhaps, happiness is indeed attainable – but undiscovered by many. Hence, this draws to the question on how happiness can be used to measure life’s worth. In such case, it seems appropriate to rely on moral principles dictated by ethics. Aristotle (12) defines happiness to be a measure of good life and good action. While it is understandable how happiness is equated to good life, the concept of ‘good’ often remains subjective. For a peasant who has been enduring months of labor, an abundant harvest defines a good life. Yet this may not mean anything to a powerful landowner who has already been living in abundance all his life. In the same sense, it is common to think that the children of the peasants, who inherited slavery from their parents, are bound not to live a good life. However, Aristotle (13) pointed that life is already good in itself. This is to say that regardless of the condition, whether it be of the landowner or the peasant, life is always good for goodness is a state of soul (Aristotle 13). It is essential, therefore, to discover the goodness in one’s life even though at times, goodness is not blatantly laid before us. It has to be realized for it to be discovered. To illustrate, it is said that there are people born with inborn talents. However, without practice, the talent will remain undiscovered. If a dancer is too shy to perform, no one would appreciate the talent no matter how good the person is and as such, the person would not be recognized as talented even if the truth is, the talent is inborn to that person. Through time, the talent will remain hidden, unpracticed and never discovered. Moreover, with regards to the landowner in the previous example, despite the abundance of harvests, life for him may remain to be not good, perhaps due to lack of satisfaction. Therefore, this is to say that what seems to be good to some may not necessarily be considered as so by others even if in reality, it is indeed good in itself. Nevertheless, the above example shows how something which the majority is likely to consider ‘good’ may still be perceived otherwise by the one who failed to discover its goodness. However, there are also things which the majority would agree to be ‘not good’ such as ugliness and poverty. But then again, in line with principles of Aristotle, this agreement is not true for everything is innately good (13). Take for instance, slavery. While it is uncommon to realize its goodness, doing so is still possible. In Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, poor Celie has been praying to God whom she has always thought of as a male white man. Yet despite her prayers, she continues to experience exploitation and was even forced by her father to leave the house and marry an abusive husband. But then, if she were not born to this situation, she would not have met the people who would teach her the meaning of life in deeper perspective. There was Shug, her husband’s lover, who made her realize that her image of God is simply what the society dictates her and Sophia who showed her that women are not born oppressed and it is possible to be superior over men. These people define goodness in the life of Celie. One cannot assign qualities to things despite of what the society agrees on for even poverty and slavery carry innate goodness. But then again, one may argue that the subjective nature of good life may serve as an excuse for justifying certain things such as crimes. Yet it is important to note that good life is just a part of being happy – as mentioned previously, the other component of happiness is good action. It is common to think that the goodness of an action depends on the ends such that if the goals are good and they were fulfilled, then the action is good but this is not so. For Aristotle (95) good action is its end in itself. Thus, whether the purpose of the action has been achieved or not, it may still be regarded as good. In the same sense, the goodness of the goals does not entail the same thing for the action. As the saying goes, “the ends do not justify the means”. To illustrate, in the famous tale of Robin Hood, the purpose of stealing is blatantly good – that is, to take back what the powerful ones have stolen and distribute it among the poor. However, the means by which the purpose was carried out cannot be considered as a good action. On the other hand, there are also actions which can be considered good despite the fact that the purpose is not expected to be achieved at the very beginning. Take the scenario of a man asked by the bandits to shoot one captive in exchange for the lives of nine other captives and in the case of the man’s refusal, the bandits will shoot all ten captives. In this case, even if the man chooses not to kill anyone, the captives will still die. In one perspective, it seems logical for the man to act based on the good of the most number of people yet this logic deviates from Aristotle’s principle. Good action is not based on the results or ends for, as what has been mentioned, it is already an end in itself. When the quality of the goal and the action is different, it becomes difficult to draw the line between good and bad actions. In judging the goodness of an action, Aristotle (18) emphasized the importance the concept of virtue which would make people do noble deeds. According to Aristotle, virtue can be classified into two types which are that of intellect and that of character (20). Ethical virtue that characterized attitude is already innate to every person. However, this can only be honed when used with practical wisdom. This can be compared to a child whose actions are usually dictated by wants and pleasure. Yet its actions are also guided by adults such that for every wrong deed, the child gets reprimanded. As time goes by, the good virtues are strengthened until such time that the child learns to rely on its own intellectual reasoning and not just on pleasure in deciding whether an action is good or not without the need to be scolded by adults. When the action not based on pleasure becomes a habit, the person has already developed ethical virtues. Moreover, the flow of reasoning should be based on moderation of action (Aristotle 22). As such, any excess or deficiency is regarded as immoral. For example, selfishness is a deficiency of generosity; thus, if one refuses to give alms to a beggar, the action is considered immoral. On the other hand, spoiling is an excess of generosity and therefore, is also regarded as immoral. If one gives more than what the beggar needs at the moment, the beggar would become reliant instead of finding means to improve his life. As such, the action would make the beggar just a beggar all through his life. Unfortunately, good action is not easy to achieve as a person is easily tempted by pleasurable things that satisfy one’s desires. Aristotle termed this as self-love (155). He argued that it is possible to pursue self-interests without necessarily sacrificing virtue. Increasing the chance of happiness is a virtuous way of serving one’s own interests. But then again, it is important to look at happiness on the basis of good life and good action as previously defined. Hence, for Aristotle, self-interest is not merely a function of material things but of happiness that stems from virtue. With these principles at hand, it is suffice to say that the key to happiness is to first realize the inherent goodness of life. Once discovered, one should go through life by achieving noble goals. A goal is said to be noble if the actions that can be taken to achieve it is good. An action is said to be good if it is done in moderation – that is, a balance between pleasure and reason. If this path of logic is constantly followed, one would eventually acquire virtue. A virtuous life is tantamount to genuine happiness. Works Cited Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. W.D. Ross. Minnesota: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC., 2007. Print. Read More