- The song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams has gone viral, topping the charts in the United States and twenty-two other countries.
- It was nominated as Best Original Song for the Academy Awards on March 2, 2014, nudged out only by “Let it Go” from Frozen.
- After Mr. Williams released atwenty-four hour versionof “Happy” featuring various people dancing to the song, with cameo appearances of Magic Johnson, Sergio Mendes, Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Foxx, and Steve Carell, the craze caught on for others to do the same.
- As of May this year, more than 1500 videos from the world over have been posted showing people dancing to “Happy,” from college students and spry oldsters in the United States to exuberant boppers in countries as far flung as Armenia, Brazil, Albania, and New Zealand.
Decidedly unhappy police in Iran arrested fans dancing to the song authorities deemed “vulgar” and a threat to “public chastity.” But the Iranian president tweeted “#Happiness is our people’s right. We shouldn’t be too hard on behaviors caused by joy.” The prisoners were released. “Happy” has been picked up for ads by Fiat and Dr. Dre, among others, and recorded by other artists including Pentatonix. It was also performed by late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon impersonating Vladimir Putin.
What is it that has sparked this world-wide craze of happiness?
..............................
What is happiness? Aristotle, in his discourse in the Nichomachean Ethics,says that happiness is identified with “living well and doing well”[1], though he admits that people differ about what they think will make them happy. Is it pleasure, wealth, honor, wisdom, or political power?[2] Aristotle contends that man does not gain happiness by acquiring goods, and that in fact it “is more often found with those who are most highly cultivated in their mind and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods…enough for the performance of good actions.”[3] Most people spend a great deal of their life’s energies pursuing money, but Aristotle warns that “men have been undone by reason of their wealth.”[4] Anyone who has lived long enough to see the effect of great wealth on the third generation to inherit it knows Aristotle is right. Besides, wealth exists only to achieve something else, meaning it is only a secondary good.
Aristotle concludes that external goods for their own sake will not bring happiness.[5] Likewise, wielding power does not produce happiness, and may in fact destroy it. Pleasure and amusement are illusory goals as well.[6] If we choose pleasure to achieve happiness, pleasure, too, is a secondary good. Happiness, on the other hand, is something “final and self-sufficient.”[7]
So what is happiness, then? Aristotle says, “Happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with perfect virtue.”[8] True happiness depends on a certain kind of understanding of the mind and soul to correctly apprehend what is true. The well-formed mind is put into practice, as the soul directs human action toward living in virtue. Happiness is the gift that is bestowed on one who lives virtue. We obtain it not because we seek it, but happiness comes almost unbidden, as a by-product of a virtuous life.
This virtue can be intellectual, moral, philosophic understanding, practical wisdom, or moral temperance, but Aristotle makes it clear that the good life is concerned with action, not merely thought.[9] However, training of the mind is necessary. Happiness “comes as a result of virtue and some process of learning or training.”[10] But it is well worth waiting for: “The prize and end of virtue is something godlike and blessed.”[11]
In the same discourse, Aristotle also talks about friendship as an important aspect of happiness. He says friendship characterized by mutual love and respect is the highest good.[12] If the love is for the sake of one’s own pleasure or utility of the other, that is a limited relationship of no lasting value, easily dissolved. “Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in virtue; for these wish well alike to each other…and they are good themselves.”[13] Such friendship is enduring because mutual loves involves choice, which “springs from a state of character; and men which wish well to those whom they love.”[14] Aristotle is showing us here another important aspect of happiness, which is based on love.
...................
Read more: www.theimaginativeconservative.org
What is it that has sparked this world-wide craze of happiness?
..............................
What is happiness? Aristotle, in his discourse in the Nichomachean Ethics,says that happiness is identified with “living well and doing well”[1], though he admits that people differ about what they think will make them happy. Is it pleasure, wealth, honor, wisdom, or political power?[2] Aristotle contends that man does not gain happiness by acquiring goods, and that in fact it “is more often found with those who are most highly cultivated in their mind and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods…enough for the performance of good actions.”[3] Most people spend a great deal of their life’s energies pursuing money, but Aristotle warns that “men have been undone by reason of their wealth.”[4] Anyone who has lived long enough to see the effect of great wealth on the third generation to inherit it knows Aristotle is right. Besides, wealth exists only to achieve something else, meaning it is only a secondary good.
Aristotle concludes that external goods for their own sake will not bring happiness.[5] Likewise, wielding power does not produce happiness, and may in fact destroy it. Pleasure and amusement are illusory goals as well.[6] If we choose pleasure to achieve happiness, pleasure, too, is a secondary good. Happiness, on the other hand, is something “final and self-sufficient.”[7]
So what is happiness, then? Aristotle says, “Happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with perfect virtue.”[8] True happiness depends on a certain kind of understanding of the mind and soul to correctly apprehend what is true. The well-formed mind is put into practice, as the soul directs human action toward living in virtue. Happiness is the gift that is bestowed on one who lives virtue. We obtain it not because we seek it, but happiness comes almost unbidden, as a by-product of a virtuous life.
This virtue can be intellectual, moral, philosophic understanding, practical wisdom, or moral temperance, but Aristotle makes it clear that the good life is concerned with action, not merely thought.[9] However, training of the mind is necessary. Happiness “comes as a result of virtue and some process of learning or training.”[10] But it is well worth waiting for: “The prize and end of virtue is something godlike and blessed.”[11]
In the same discourse, Aristotle also talks about friendship as an important aspect of happiness. He says friendship characterized by mutual love and respect is the highest good.[12] If the love is for the sake of one’s own pleasure or utility of the other, that is a limited relationship of no lasting value, easily dissolved. “Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in virtue; for these wish well alike to each other…and they are good themselves.”[13] Such friendship is enduring because mutual loves involves choice, which “springs from a state of character; and men which wish well to those whom they love.”[14] Aristotle is showing us here another important aspect of happiness, which is based on love.
...................
Read more: www.theimaginativeconservative.org
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario