Eduardo Porter is a columnist and is writing the Economic section columns for the New York Times. He has written several articles, during his role as a member of The Times’ editorial board. He has written on several topics, which include business, philosophy, economics, and mix of several others. He has a vast experience in the field of Journalism and has been writing since last two decades.
As per his research on happiness and his analysis on the perspectives of psychologists and economists, happiness tends to be meant for subjective well-being. There are three parts, which include – satisfaction, positive feelings, and negative feelings. People might be working hard, in order to achieve goals in their lives, and they might even achieve it somehow.
But, they might not be satisfied, due to one or the other reason. Hence, satisfaction measures how people are judging themselves against their aspirations. Positive feelings include feelings like joy and happiness, which would comfort any human being in every sense (Allen, 2006). And, negative feelings will include anger, sadness, and so on, which would loosen one’s confidence and basic morale. Porter tries to clarify that all these exists because happiness element is present in everyone’s life. All these parameters try to help any individual during their bad times, such as during sickness, bad economical conditions of the family, and even during death of a family member. It is because of these parameters that the man decides to fight against the weak conditions and tries to overcome the barriers against him (Porter, 2012). He thus lives a longer and a healthier life.
There are religious views on happiness, wherein different religions provide the definition of the happiness in their way. In Christian worldview, the Christian individual or group will believe in the Christian beliefs and ideals, and shall accordingly interpret the world (Naugle, 2002). There are six elements in this framework. First one refers to the explanation of the entire world, and how one should interact with it.
Second one refers to the question on where we are leading to. Third one refers to the act that we need to do from an ethical perspective (Pearcey, 2004). Fourth one refers to the set of actions that will help to achieve our goals in our lives. Fifth one refers to the theory of what is true and what is false. And, finally sixth one refers to the constructed world-view, which refers to the basic building blocks of the creation of this world.
We all believe in God, and we have deep faith in what God has taught us in the form of theories or principles provided in the Bible. We need to act accordingly and respect one another's existence in this world. There is nothing that was created by mankind in this world; each and every thing is created by the God, and even we are considered to be the creation of God. Hence, we should not carry out those deeds that could harm others in one or the other way.
Consider the profession of a Senior Manager, in one of the leading Multinational agencies of the nation. This organization has been operating since long. It is found that all the employees are quite satisfied with their jobs. The working hours are limited. Besides, there even extra benefits provided to the employees. As a result, even if their health deteriorates we as a part of the organization take care of them in the best possible way. We even provide additional benefits of health insurance, health benefits such as sick leaves, and helping the individual and his family in all the ways. Thus, we are trying to walk on the path provided by the God of helping each other and supporting each other.
Interpreting this example from a philosophical perspective, we identify that happiness cannot be achieved through attaining success or gaining something. But, we can achieve happiness by helping others and assisting them in their needs. It is very much important, to include the happiness quotient in the life of all these employees by the top-level management. Only money cannot provide happiness to an individual; the factors of job satisfaction and working like one family can help in providing the desired happiness. The philosophy that works after the happiness, is an individual job satisfaction and at the same time feeling happy to work in such an environment (Bartlett & Collins, 2011).
Man wants to come out of the balloon of sadness and wants to enjoy like the life of a free and independent bird (Rosa & Paul, 2009). The word happiness itself brings a smile on our face, and hence people try to achieve it in their best possible way. There have been many examples quoted in the paper, which only after reading, we could realize that they have appeared in our mind. There is one interesting fact regarding happiness. People who are wounded get healed faster, if they are satisfied with their lives. Thus, happiness can also turn out to be a medicine for several people in this world.
Further, scientists have even researched out that, those who are feeling happy can never have cold. It is a fact, and I was impressed with all these facts mentioned in the given paper. It might seem to be incredible, but they are true. Porter has not only tried to define happiness, but has also provided the basis for his views, which are exceptionally amazing and interesting in his paper (Aknin, Dunn, & Norton, 2012). He even mentions of the fact that, people are utilizing things, which would make them happy for a certain moment of time, but will make them unhappy in the future. Consider all those people who are smoking; they knew it could cause cancer in the future if their habit of smoking continues, but still they stick with it.
There are even ethical views presented by the philosophers wherein, the fact of human evil can affect the human nature and our subsequent ability to achieve the happiness. There is another profession, which deals more into the ethical values. The profession of law and advocacy is one of the greatest professions, and it deals into true and false. But, in order to prove wrong as correct and correct as wrong, there are several lawyers who take bribes for solving these cases. It is injustice done to all the victims of a given case. The lawyer is not following the rules, as well as he denies ethical values in his vocation. This is how the human evil can affect the human nature. It will ruin the happiness of the victims of this case. Hence, such things should be avoided by abiding by the ethical values. The judge will then be able to take correct decisions, and hence, justice will be awarded to the victims and punishment will be awarded to the culprits of this case. We would thereby, achieve the elements of happiness and self-satisfaction from this case.
Today, the world has changed a lot, and people are indulging into unethical practices just to earn more money (Schyns & Schilling, 2011). But, this should not happen; instead, one should remain honest, pure, transparent, and ethical in his working practices. It will ensure spreading of happiness amongst all the people of the world. Happiness otherwise is a difficult subject; but, despite Porter has tried to put all the things in his best possible way. Happiness is what it keeps us away from the negative feelings and negative elements in this world (White, 1983). After all, Happiness is a vast subject. We can write many things on it.
References
Allen, R.E. (2006). Plato: The Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bartlett, R.C., and Collins, S.D. (2011). Nicomachean Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
White, N.P. (1983). Handbook of Epictetus. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company.
Porter, E. (2012). What Happiness Is. Boston: Bedford.
Rosa, A., and Eschholz, P. (2009). Models for Writers. St. Martin’s: Bedford.
Aknin, L.B., Dunn, E.W., and Norton, M.I. (2012). Happiness runs in a circular motion: Evidence for a positive feedback loop between pro-social spending and happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(2), 347-355.
Naugle, D. (2002). Worldview: A History of the Concept. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Pearcey, N. (2004). Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Schyns, B., and Schilling, J. (2011). Implicit Leadership Theories: Think Leader, Think Effective? Journal of Management Inquiry, 20, 141-150.
