Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Philosophy Happiness An Illusion Happiness An Illusion Happiness: An Illusion? Perhaps the most elusive state that humans experience is the illusion of happiness. This state can not be defined as any one state. Through experience I have seen that happiness is a combination of human emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come. In an unofficial poll of students at the University of West Florida, I found that of the thirty-eight students and one professor, males and females of several ethnic backgrounds and age groups, that I asked the question “What is happiness to you?”, all of them had very different physical, intellectual, or emotional motivator for their happiness. Only the professor stated what happiness was to him. The students, ranging in age from 20 years to 45 years, all spoke of material things that would make them happy. They couldn’t seem to grasp “happiness” as a concept in itself. The questions that are asked when exploring the concept of happiness should begin with desire to know if it is a pleasure based in our basic and primitive emotions. Next, is happiness motivated by pure desire? Does a mental state of contentment produce happiness? Does happiness come from a simple, physical feeling? Maybe happiness is a The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard set up by the theory, much more requires to be said; in particular, what things it in- cludes in the ideas of pain and pleasure; and to what extent this is left an open question. But these supplementary explanations do not affect the theory of life on which this theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain. (Pojman 917) Mill seems to think that happiness comes from the desire to be completely pain-free. He says that happiness comes from selfishly fulfilled desires. The desire to attain only pleasure is ludicrous; for a person to achieve a completely pain-free existence is impossible. To gain complete happiness would leave them with no motivation to achieve anything else. Human nature is such that if a person achieved pure happiness, that person would then become dissatisfied with that happiness, causing them to, once again, be unhappy. A person will always experience something contrary to pleasure, leaving them with In my opinion, people seem to be happy for many different reasons at different times in their lives. I feel that for most people, happiness is a contented state of mind. Of course, this state of mind is sometimes associated with pleasures of the senses. Therefore, happiness can be achieved in many ways. Today, people seem to be interested in the pleasures of the flesh as a means to happiness. This may be due to the anesthetized feelings that we have developed from the staggering amount of information pushed upon us every day. This lack of sensation causes a need that when filled is often mistaken for As a general rule, I feel, people are extremely complex creatures. Their ability for abstract thought seperates them from any other creature on earth, but it also makes them unique unto themselves. What makes one person happy may or may not make another person happy. Happiness, in and of itself, in my opinion, in unattainable. To be content with a minimum of worries is as close to absolute happiness as a person can come. For myself, I believe that true happiness is an illusion. I believe in the desire-driven theory of happiness. When I find the need for the illusion of happiness, I attempt to achieve it by fulfilling my temporary needs through the gratification of my immediate desires. I find that contentment and the drive to continue to achieve my desires is much more important than the illusion of happiness. Bibliography: Works Cited Pojman, Louis P. Classics of Philosophy: Volume II Modern and Contemporary. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Word Count: 758
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