Frans Svensson_contentment Issue1 #268671
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+Citations (1)
- CitationsAdd new citationList by: CiterankMapLink[1] Happiness, Well-being, and Their Relation to Virtue in Descartes’ Ethics
Author: • Svensson, Frans Publication info: Philosophers Index, 06/29/2011. Cited by: Jason Siegel 4:29 AM 27 April 2013 GMT URL:
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Excerpt / Summary This article presents Descartes’s account of happiness and how he thinks happiness can or cannot be acquired. It then introduces and develops the distinction between happiness and well-being, then offers some further grounds or reasons for why the proposed distinction should be ascribed to Descartes. Svensson comments, “happiness consists in a state where we believe that all our desires are fulfilled or satisfied, and where we are therefore also enjoying the contentment produced by our belief that we are in possession of the goods which are the objects of those desires. The happy person is thus someone who experiences (or someone whose state of mind is such that he experiences) full or complete contentment and satisfaction with what he does and has. From his own subjective perspective, there is nothing he desires or wishes for that he is missing.” Svensson’s work adds onto White’s research, making me question contentment as a factor that intertwines with other factors of happiness White argues. This furthers my initial definition of happiness as being mental contentment in addition to having a life passion, among the other beauties of life. It brings up the point that happy people desire nothing. This raises many questions and observations, ultimately leading towards a deeper and almost Buddhist perspective to life and happiness. |