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Single Idea 1386
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness
]
Full Idea
A concern for happiness is the unavoidable concomitant of consciousness; that which is conscious of pleasure and pain, desiring that that self that is conscious should be happy.
Gist of Idea
A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.27.26)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.346
A Reaction
It is an interesting question whether a being would be concerned with 'happiness' if they were conscious thinkers, but lacking pleasure and pain. Presumably they would desire eudaimonia - that their life go well, in some way.
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[how important is happiness?]:
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2681
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Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are
[Nagel on Aristotle]
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5132
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Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself
[Aristotle]
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30
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Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action
[Aristotle]
|
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14522
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What happens to me if I obtain all my desires, and what if I fail?
[Epicurus]
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22985
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Everyone wants happiness
[Augustine]
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6210
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Life has no end (not even happiness), because we have desires, which presuppose a further end
[Hobbes]
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1386
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A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness
[Locke]
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1454
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Morality is not about making ourselves happy, but about being worthy of happiness
[Kant]
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21061
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Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will
[Kant]
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2891
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Only the English actually strive after happiness
[Nietzsche]
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4500
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It is a sign of degeneration when eudaimonistic values begin to prevail
[Nietzsche]
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4558
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We have no more right to 'happiness' than worms
[Nietzsche]
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18307
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I want my work, not happiness!
[Nietzsche]
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7983
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Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune
[Baudrillard]
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