English III TN Core Writing Assessment Writing Prompt #2 Analysis of “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” By Jon Gernter And “The Science of Happiness” By Michael Mendelsohn The “Pursuit of Happiness” is a right that is given to all citizens of the United States of America in the Declaration of Independence. However, I am not sure the attempt to become happier than we are at this present moment is always an easy task much less even possible at times unless we work for it. The Futile Pursuit of Happiness, written by Jon Gernter, focuses on affective forecasting. This idea suggests that people demonstrate poor judgment in predicting future emotional states when it comes to their well-being. How can anyone foresee what will make them happy or unhappy or how they will react or feel about it when it actually does happen?
Since the true path to happiness, according to Epictetus, is the attainment of virtue, we can all become happier by improving ourselves, whether morally or intellectually. Furthermore, Epictetus' philosophy of happiness would lead us to live less stressful lives if we came to worry about only that which we can control. Still, while I admire Epictetus and his philosophy, I do not believe that most of us could be happy purely through the attainment of virtue. I believe that social support and some level of material possessions are necessary for happiness; we cannot forever strive only for virtue. I do, however, believe that Epictetus had a strong point when he asserted that we should only, rationally-speaking, worry about what we can change -- what good is there in worrying about things we cannot
The American Dream Everyone has an idealized version of life that they believe to be true. The common thought is that in order to live a worthwhile life everyone should have wealth, love and true happiness. This however is not what actually happens. These are fairy tale thoughts and everyone knows that fairy tales are not true. The American Dream can be achieved in different aspects by different people.
He saw that an action had to cause the greatest or purist happiness. Therefore in the situation of war, Mill would think what would cause the best amount of happiness for people. The general rules that he would follow is: what would be the consequences of war? Would everyone be happy with this? Who would have the most happiness (qualitative).
Then, what is he doing in this last quote? Classic examples of being a phony, saying something you do not mean. In reality Holden is just like everyone else. He just wants to succeed have a nice future for himself. He just envies people that are already successful, which is why he calls them a
Gonzalez, Jessika Dr. Jeffries Essay #1 09/28/12 What is happiness? There are many different definitions of happiness and happiness is determined by each individual. “The Aim of Man” by Aristotle and “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson both discuss the meaning of happiness means to them. By discussing their attitudes towards material and spiritual happiness as well as their attitudes toward political freedom and the need for possessions, Jefferson and Aristotle, wrote what they feel about happiness. Aristotle defines happiness as the final good which means, to live a good life, by doing good deeds and happiness depends upon us.
Helmholtz is extremely intelligent and understands things that many people in his world do not. He is angry that he cannot escape his caste and he wants to be greater than he already is. The world shown in the novel is set up in such a way that no one can be greater or more powerful than others. The utopian society shown in the novel Brave New World presents a world that is supposed to be perfect in which everyone is happy. This may be true in some cases, but as shown by evidence in the analysis of three different characters, we can state that the perfect world is in actuality not a prefect world.
Just as the novel mentions, “he spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered.” (Fitzgerald, 2001: 192) Gatsby is nimble and ambitious in making money, which shows the “sagacity” of modern people, but towards love he gives us the impression of “a naive young man.” The reader may wonder what makes Gatsby great? Gatsby is great because of his loyalty to love. He has the desire to repeat the past, and the desire for money. For Gatsby, Daisy is the soul of his dreams. He believes he can regain Daisy.
How many times have we fantasized about having a perfect life, and in that fantasy, we dreamt that we are extremely happy living that life? According to Daniel Gilbert, in his essay “Immune to Reality”, “because we ignore how our psychological immune system works, we cannot predict how happy our choices will make us”. Therefore, it gets us away from the perfect life that we wish so much. At the end, can we learn how to control the Psychological Immune System to achieve happiness in our life? We would be in a better standing position if we can take advantage of the knowledge how our psychological immune system works, identify what kind of happiness we want to experience, and recognize that we cannot be always happy.
1) Summarize the “Ted” talk or selected video. Shawn Anchor talked about positive psychology and the way we tend to look at success and happiness backwards. Most people follow a success then happiness formula but after success if the goalposts of success keep changing, it’s hard to find happiness. Instead of assuming that future achievement will bring happiness into our lives, we need to change our frame of mind to be happier and more positive. This happier and more positive way of thinking will contribute considerably to the likelihood that we will actually achieve that success.