Full Idea
In the following discourse, happiness denotes pleasant sensation of any kind, or continued state of such sensations.
Gist of Idea
Happiness is a pleasant sensation, or continued state of such sensations
Source
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 4: The Moral Sense [1728], Intro)
Book Reference
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.305
A Reaction
This is a very long way from Greek eudaimonia. Hutcheson seems to imply that I would be happy if I got high on drugs after my family had just burnt to death. Socrates points out that scratching an itch is a very pleasant sensation (Idea 132).
Related Idea
Idea 132 If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato]