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Philosophers: Do you see a relative point between philosophy and happiness?

I s philosophy has a great influence in the attainment of happiness? Thanks for sharing your philosophical thoughts. Have a great day!

Public Comments

1. No. Happiness is being, in this moment. Philosophy is thinking, debating, arguing, changing viewpoint, admitting wrong, all of which go with a lot of pain, soul searching and hurt. (heartache) (And if it did not hurt, you have not thought.) I do agree, due to philosophy, happiness is easier to attain. Love, peace, and happiness.
2. A relation between philosophy and happiness? A positive outlook in life can certainly affect one's happiness. If I choose to look for the good in people I will find it and therefore be happier. If I choose to believe that ALL people have gifts and talents I can more readily see these gifts in them. I believe we all go through struggles in this life so I make a conscious effort to be kind to people by saying uplifting things to them - when I do this, I find that I am happier.
3. Yes certainly... though I mostly wonder of finding more happiness when I think fool.
4. I'm not so certain "philosophy" all by itself has anything to do with happiness. I think happiness has something to do with having at least a bit more than just your basic needs met. By a little bit more, I mean it's nice to have just enough money and resources so that you can pursue certain endeavors like learning, or creating a living environment that is slightly pleasing and comfortable, and being able to rid yourself of pesky interferences in life, like when you need to get away for a day, or maybe you need to pick something up at the store that will make your life just a little easier. There's a line, you know? You don't need too much, but it's better if you have a little rather than not very much at all. Waxing too philosophical has its moments. I can actually feel a bit stressed by it at times. I've turned my brain into "mental soup". That's kind of unpleasant! :^P I think happiness has a great deal to do with introspection, kindness to yourself, and slowing down enough to smell the roses. Knowing who you are, what makes you "tick", being aware of your limits, having a gentle inner monologue and living in the present by focusing on it instead of dredging up the past or worrying constantly about tomorrow is, to me, steady happiness. It's not exactly exhilerating. Maybe it's better to call it contentment. I don't think you can "attain" any other kind of happiness. It can be a very fleeting subject, so you have to have an overall contentment with who you are, what you're doing, where you are, etc. That includes rolling with life's punches and being able to say that even though troubles do arise, overall, things are good. You can't just "say" that to yourself though. There's a little work involved in order for it to be believable. I often have to say no to a lot of things, reduce my load in life, and not get caught up in the whirlwind. I think it was Plato who said "know thyself" (but I haven't read or studied him). I think that's an excellent place to start your "quest" for happiness. I don't agree that it's all that philosophical, but having an accurate estimation of your own bearings helps put other more philosphical subjects into perspective. If you're not too sure who you are in this world, it's going to be very hard to speculate on others, and even harder to see why things result from the actions of people. At the very least, if you come up with an accurate portrait of you, it should be freeing and it should open the doors to more appropriate happinesses. My thoughts :)
5. Philosophy clouds the natural state,the very attempt to attain the bliss is a major hurdle for attainment of bliss.Majority get confused by philosophy rather than getting clarity through it.
6. I admit that I struggled a little with the phrase ‘relative point’, as whatever could that mean, is important for me to know first hand as this is what I am supposed to decide for myself, if I can see it or not as a link between 'philosophy and happiness'. Then if I proceed with the question anyway imagining that this is one way of asking as how does an ongoing philosophical thinking relates to the ever-present need of happiness in my mind then I ask, is thinking worth talking the risk, as any carelessness in opening the mind to the possibilities of thought could lead up to trouble and result upon making me unhappier instead. The fact however that I have in my mind is that there is no end to thought. It is possible for mind to doubt forever and even when certain levels of certainty has been reached, or some truth has been discovered, the search will still go on, the doubts will resurface. The only cure for a hundred percent certainty, may that be of a state of happiness or of an agony of a truth, is if we manage to stop thinking once we get somewhere we liked and stop there, but this is exactly what philosophy is not, it is an ongoing process in life, it is in the mind as long as the mind is. What is the purpose then? Are we helplessly and haplessly in the hands of our mind, and philosophy is just an approach, or an allowance, to further strengthen our mind, to give it a proper reason to doubt, to tear apart any certainty we might acquire through meditative calmness of our mind? I think this is where we really start to get to know ourselves. It is like only when we have lots of money to spend we learn the way to spend it, instead of squandering it aimlessly. It is the something beyond thinking that philosophy points, that our philosophical thoughts are geared for as a powerful and gradually refined search tool, something that gives us our sense of happiness. The good things and also the bad thing about philosophy is that it itself does not take us there but it takes us at the doorsteps of truth, or happiness, that even when we enter we find the chariot of philosophical pursuit ready for yet another ride on the other side. We can have some firm beliefs formed through our philosophical thinking and have unshakable faith in the super natural, but we are never a thought away from being lodged into a fully-fledged escapade of doubt. To be happy therefore is like planting a seed of a thought, to doubt still have faith that the plant will grow out of that seed and will eventually bear fruit, but if that seed is of a kind of trees that bear fruit once after ninety years then we might not live long enough to benefit from it. Then a thought has to be beneficial right here and now and it could be in the time to come. The ability of the mind to round things up into certainly definitions of life, nuggets of practical wisdom, so to speak, is what ensures us our happiness in all thinking, I believe.
7. Most times I see a balance of emotions.
8. Philosophy gives man understanding; with understanding man is able to govern his mind, discern his environment and control this will. He is able to fathom the behaviour and reaction others to behave accordingly for harmonious interactions. A philosophical mind observes the world beyond the immediate vision, the nature of things, circumstance contained within the great scheme of universal and infinite existence. Have a beautiful day...
9. Philosophy has little to do with happiness. Modern world people pretend to be happy or even die for temporary happiness. Happiness is a formation in a relaxed mind.
10. My philosophy is that neither philosophy nor happiness exist, which makes me happy.
11. The 'pure' logic of Philosophy does not affect Happiness unless you are passionate about what you believe. Happiness is a pleasure/reward in our mental control system that fires off when we perceive we are fulfilling our purpose. But what is our purpose? Children are happy playing with friends all day, because they have little sense of purpose other than play. As adults we have a greater sense of what we SHOULD be doing. Happiness gets harder because it's often attached to succeeding at things that are truly difficult. Philosophy affects happiness because in moments of deep reflection we can decide WHAT our purpose is, and so set the 'bar' for our happiness. BUT..... This only works if we make an EMOTIONAL connection to our purpose, because happiness is an emotion. Which means a Philosopher that LOGICALLY concludes something is important, does not derive Happiness from doing it until they make the same conclusion EMOTIONALLY.
12. Since I find happiness through philosophy, why not?
13. I guess It probably has when you talk about having a specific positive 'Life Philosophy' that makes it possible to more easily allow happiness into your life. It probably will be more easy to allow happiness into your life when your 'Life Philosophy' isn't to complicated with all kinds of complicated 'rules' for being happy. For example if you allow yourself to only be happy if you win an 'Oscar' or a 'Pulitzer prize' or something like that. You might have a 'Life Philosophy' that will not easily allow you to be happy very frequent. Talking about 'Happy' I am Happy you asked this question because I happen to have a very interesting blogpost with a link to an audio interview on my blog with the author of 'Happy for No Reason' that discusses things like that. Personally I do think that it's very interesting and insightfull. You can find it at: http://hpshappy.blogspot.com All the Best, To your Happy Inspiration, HP
14. No, silly!:D God is the only way to true happiness! (I mean no offense by calling you 'silly') I just find your question 'cute'! May you also have a beautiful day!
15. real philosopher cannot be happy. love Pluto
16. lol Well, I believe that...Philosophers...are quite happy...philosophizing! Then I read Immanuel Kant, (one of my very favorite), and realize that, in his final assumption, on his existentialism, both one conclusion and then its opposite ,are both valid...and I wonder...what the He$$! Happiness can probably best be defined by the individual. We are all obligated to seek it to the best of our ability so long as it is not done at the expense of our fellows.
17. Contradiction correction.
18. It is for me personally - Spiritually I find happiness alighting from the blue - it is always hte unexpected that makes me smile and enjjoy the moment - Psychologically I aim to be present in each moment with a capacity to process. Philosophy helps me to attribute temporary meaning and understnading to my experience it is like the bedrock that I return to when overwhelmed to start to lay some foudnations for a new type of learning and experience. My degree was in sociology psychology and I find myself thinking in htese ways to try to better understand and accept what I see outside myself but I always thought that the most interesting places were the edges between disciplines - In horticulture much more happens at the edges of environments where two states meet - I think philosphy is the edge. I am personally happy when I have the temporary philosophy which matches all my current experience.
19. If such philosophy brings wisdom then yes.
20. Not that much. Thinking philosophically involves stepping back and looking at life, and this is often seen as giving perspective that our problems are not so important in the grander scheme of things; but i have no statistical evidence that any particular philosophy or inclination to philosophical thinking makes people happier.
21. Philosophy can certainly change your perspective on life in such a way that yes, it does affect your happiness - because the way that you perceive and understand the world changes the way that you engage with it both practically and emotionally. Philosophy matters.
22. LOL i think up many ideas in philosophy and thinking about them sometimes has caused me the greatest mental anguish and pain I could describe... But once I work out an idea or create a new concept I feel satisfaction in knowing I have conquered this area of knowledge...
23. I think that philosophy has a way of destroying what we believe to be happiness in this day and age or these past 4000 years. It makes one sit back and really evaluate just what the heck is all this talk about happiness.