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Single Idea 5655

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness ]

Full Idea

For Bradley, the happiness of the individual is not to be understood in terms of his desires and needs, but rather in terms of his values - which is to say, in terms of those of his desires which he incorporates into his self.

Gist of Idea

Happiness is not satisfaction of desires, but fulfilment of values

Source

report of F.H. Bradley (Ethical Studies [1876]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.16

Book Ref

Scruton,Roger: 'A Short History of Modern Philosophy' [ARK 1985], p.235

A Reaction

Good. Bentham will reduce the values to a further set of desires, so that a value is a complex (second-level?) desire. I prefer to think of values as judgements, but I like Scruton's phrase of 'incorporating into his self'. Kant take note (Idea 1452).

Related Idea

Idea 1452 Happiness is the condition of a rational being for whom everything goes as they wish [Kant]

The 32 ideas with the same theme [how can happiness be achieved?]:

5835 The road of freedom is the surest route to happiness [Aristippus elder, by Xenophon]
332 One should exercise both the mind and the body, to avoid imbalance [Plato]
17947 Plato decided that the virtuous and happy life was the philosophical life [Plato, by Nehamas]
7812 For peace of mind, you need self-government, indifference and independence [Diogenes of Sin.]
5139 If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt [Aristotle]
39 Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life [Aristotle]
5144 Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods [Aristotle]
100 The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness [Aristotle]
106 The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man [Aristotle]
5865 Happiness involves three things, of which the greatest is either wisdom, virtue, or pleasure [Aristotle]
5850 Happiness is composed of a catalogue of internal and external benefits [Aristotle]
14059 The best life is not sensuality, but rational choice and healthy opinion [Epicurus]
20865 Happiness is the end and goal, achieved by living virtuously, in agreement, and according to nature [Stoic school, by Stobaeus]
22756 If a desire is itself desirable, then we shouldn't desire it, as achieving it destroys it [Sext.Empiricus]
6678 We live for the past or future, and so are never happy in the present [Pascal]
7917 Realising our future misery is a kind of happiness [Rochefoucauld]
4860 Man's highest happiness consists of perfecting his understanding, or reason [Spinoza]
5019 Supreme human happiness is the greatest possible increase of his perfection [Leibniz]
7538 The happiest people link the beginning and end of life [Goethe]
21371 We can never attain happiness while our will is pursuing desires [Schopenhauer]
7076 Mill wondered if he would be happy if all his aims were realised, and answered no [Mill, by Critchley]
24111 Happiness is the active equilibrium of our drives [Nietzsche]
14849 We can only achieve happy moments, not happy eras [Nietzsche]
7159 The only happiness is happiness with illusion [Nietzsche]
14884 The shortest path to happiness is forgetfulness, the path of animals (but of little value) [Nietzsche]
5655 Happiness is not satisfaction of desires, but fulfilment of values [Bradley, by Scruton]
20180 A happy and joyous life must largely be a quiet life [Russell]
21743 In wartime, happiness is hating the enemy, because it gives the war a purpose [Russell]
9227 We might not choose a very moral life, if the character or constitution was deficient [Frankfurt]
4650 The quality of a life is not altogether independent of its length [Glover]
20154 Control is the key to well-being [Kekes]
20157 Well-being needs correct attitudes and well-ordered commitments to local values [Kekes]