What is happiness? A philosopher looks for answers
What is happiness? A philosopher looks for answers
https://theconversation.com/what-is-happiness-a-philosopher-looks-for-answers-276091
Publish Date: 2026-03-03 09:06:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
When we seek happiness, what exactly are we searching for? And when we wish happiness on someone else, what is it that we truly desire for them?
Can happiness even be defined or is it an illusion, an impossible desire to fulfil? So then why are there so many happiness self-help books? What do they promise and can they be attained? Is it possible to measure happiness? If so, how do ordinary people and scientists do that?
To answer these questions, I explored different definitions of happiness in my book Happiness, Unhappiness, and Chance. The book is based on my PhD study in philosophy.
Bloomsbury
Happiness today is narrowly defined by some positive psychologists as a joyous state of mind or well-being.
The happiness sciences see it as something you can calculate and quantify. They developed a Happiness Index and the World Happiness Report. These basically measure happiness as satisfaction, with criteria like gross domestic product per capita (money) and life expectancy (health) as some of the factors considered.
But happiness is also defined by our capitalist, consumer-driven society as certain aspirational products, brands and lifestyles. These consumerist definitions are often exaggerated by influencers on social media, but also through the manipulation of consumers by the online algorithms behind the digital tools we use. Increasingly, this also happens through artificial intelligence.
All these different definitions of happiness create their own problem for happiness. In fact they can lead to more unhappiness than happiness.
Joy and pleasure are often short-lived and unsustainable; well-being can quickly be ruined by illness and fate; owning certain brands, products and lifestyles exposes us to the trap of the “hedonistic treadmill,” which causes one “to rapidly and inevitably adapt to good things by taking them for granted”.
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