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A Revolution in Happiness

For centuries, finding happiness as a group or individually has sparked a lot of debates

among philosophers. Socrates claimed that everybody wants a happy life in more than two

thousand years, and since then, it has not acquired a full status of universal truth. In the

contemporary world, people have distinct ideas, in which some thinks that finding individual

happiness is more important than searching it as a group. The fact that everybody needs to be

happy relates to the question of whether finding happiness is an essential purpose in life.

Whether people are searching for happiness as a group or personally, they need to be comfortable

in their profession and have unique experiences that determine their level of pleasure. While

Aristotle claims that happiness involves experiencing the right emotions, Jeremy Bentham, who

is an English philosopher, claims that the primary purpose of humans is to experience maximum

pleasure over pain. Even though people have different views on the best way to achieve

happiness, various philosophers over the history have supported Socrates argument that

everybody wants to be happy and, as a result, the pursuit for pleasure is the most important goal

of human beings.

Today, people who write about contemporary culture seems to support the idea that

happiness can only be achieved individually, thus conflicting with ancient philosophers who

associated happiness with politics. Adriana Cavarero, the author of "A Revolution in Happiness"

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article, offers fascinating theories concerning the way people perceives pleasure. According to

the Cavarero, collective happiness is largely out of date since Socrates claimed that it involved

political experience. The main question in the article is whether it is possible to seek happiness

together. Arendt argues that it is necessary to find happiness as a group, meaning that satisfaction

is a crucial component in everybody’s life and success. In fact, happiness is included in the

American Dream, and this indicates that pleasure is the ultimate goal of every person. However,

Cavarero argues that public happiness happens when all individuals participate in creating

something new. The purpose of every person is to achieve something new and, therefore, people

have to act together as long they are willing to live happily. Although individuals can enjoy

privately, acting as a group gives a tangible experience of happiness. Unless people are eager to

work together to achieve comfort, which might lead to freedom, pleasure will continue to be

associated with social well-being and achieved by healthy, wealthy, and secure individuals. To be

precise, Adriana Cavarero supports the idea that finding happiness as a group can allow all

individuals to achieve it despite their social status, thus making everybody to live comfortably

since every human being yearns for pleasure.

Furthermore, there is a close relationship between the article “A Revolution in

Happiness” and the chosen question, which is whether finding happiness is the primary purpose

in life. The article addresses the issue from various perspectives, making any reader to agree that

pursuit for happiness is the ultimate goal of every person. For numerous years, people have been

searching for joy, but the mode of searching for pleasure has been changing because it is a

critical part of human life. Furthermore, the experience of public freedom, which leads to

happiness, was discovered by ancient Greeks, but most individuals forgot it due to civilization

(Cavarero). Nevertheless, the article corresponds to the question by asserting that people should

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live happily politically or in groups since pleasure is a crucial part of their life, in which they

cannot live without it.

However, the question is not only crucial for philosophers, but also to all individuals. The

question of whether seeking for happiness is the most critical goal in life is of great concern

philosophically since it involves various theories and social issues. Answering the question

effectively is crucial for all individuals since it might lead to divisions among people. Currently,

numerous people have already agreed that finding happiness is vital in life, but most of them

disagree on the best ways to search for it. According to the article, the best way to search for

happiness is as a group to ensure that it is achievable by every person despite social differences.

However, it is challenging for people to live without joy and, as a result, the question is essential

to everybody. Some of the philosophers who have addressed the topic include Socrates, Aristotle,

and Jeremy Bentham. Addressing the problem by the three philosophers is crucial since they

offer detailed ideas concerning the issue.

After Socrates claimed that everybody yearns for a happy life, other philosophers such as

Aristotle and Bentham have expressed their views on the argument. Socrates based his

arguments on collective happiness, unlike authors in the contemporary world, who writes about

personal pleasure. For Aristotle, people should strive to attain specific emotions while finding

happiness. In most cases, people are happier after experiencing their desirable emotions, whether

they are pleasant or unpleasant (Tamir et al. 1457). Therefore, people have to experience the

right emotions while searching for happiness as the primary purpose of their lives. Even though

Aristotle supports Socrates’s argument that everybody wants a happy life, he associates

happiness with emotions across individuals and cultures. As a result, people from different

cultural groups might have different ways of searching for happiness, in which some might

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prefer finding it as a group while others seek for pleasure individually. Cultural values and the

way individuals feel emotionally determines whether the way people from different places of the

world perceives happiness. Aristotle argues that happiness should involve some emotions and,

therefore, searching for it is crucial for all members of a community as a group. Bentham, on the

other hand, claimed that the highest number of individuals aims at maximizing pleasure in their

lives, meaning that seeking happiness is the most important purpose in life (Graham 33). Even

though the three philosophers view the question differently, they seem to support the fact that

happiness is crucial to all individuals.

Bentham’s theory that the greatest happiness involves a more significant number of

people is closely related to the question of whether the search for pleasure is the primary purpose

in life. Besides, the concept conforms to public happiness experienced by Americans during

revolutions that took place during the time of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (Cavarero). The

main reason why the greatest pleasure should involve the highest number of individuals is that it

is essential for every human being. As a result, happiness significance guarantees people to

search it as a group rather than enjoying it privately. Although the question focuses on whether

people only focus on searching for happiness in their lives, the best way to find happiness is

outlined in the article.

After analyzing the question of whether finding happiness is the ultimate goal in life, I

have discovered that people might not live comfortably without pleasure. In fact, happiness

makes people succeed in their life goals and, as a result, individuals should focus on achieving

comfort as a group or individually. Besides, it is advisable for people to search for happiness as a

group to meet their objectives in time. Happiness guarantees people freedom, allowing them to

concentrate on activities that make them more comfortable. Although the way people finds for

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pleasure has changed due to civilization, philosophers still find the issue interesting since people

cannot live without happiness. Therefore, people should maximize comfort over pain to live

happily.

In conclusion, Socrates, Bentham, and Aristotle offer different ideas concerning

happiness, but they agree with the argument that finding happiness is the ultimate goal of every

individual in life. According to Bentham, maximum pleasure is essential to people since it allows

them to forget about their pain, while Aristotle claims that there is a close relationship between

pleasure and emotions. Cavarero agrees with Socrates’ theory that every person wants happiness

in life, but she insists that people should find for it as a group. Apart from the fact that the

question is closely related to the article, the topic is crucial for all individuals since everybody

years to live a happy life. Nevertheless, the ability to find happiness in the right way is vital for

people since it allows them to live comfortable lives, full of freedom.

Works Cited

Cavarero, Adriana. "A Revolution in Happiness". Nytimes.Com, 2019,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/opinion/a-revolution-in-happiness.html.

Graham, Carol. The pursuit of happiness: An economy of well-being. Prabhat Prakashan, 2011.

Tamir, Maya, et al. "The Secret to Happiness: Feeling Good or Feeling Right?" Journal of

Experimental Psychology: General146.10 (2017): 1448.

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