Ethics & Happiness

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected 

The philosophy of happiness is the philosophical concern with the existence, nature, and attainment of happiness. Some philosophers believe happiness can be understood as the moral goal of life or as an aspect of chance; indeed, in most European languages the term happiness is synonymous with luck. By this article I would like to present about simple discussion about ethics, and after that three types of ethics, practical ethics and at the final I would like to present about happiness.

According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all the goods health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc.  that lead to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human life. Happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. While happiness has many different definitions, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction.

What is ethics?

Ethics are moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics is concerned with questions of how people ought to act, and the search for a definition of right conduct and the good life. In philosophy, Ethics is a studies the rightness or wrongness of a human action.

Types of Ethics

Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of conduct followed by an individual or group of people.

• Deontological Ethics

In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.

Deontology is a theory that suggests actions are good or bad according to a clear set of rules. Its name comes from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. Actions that obey these rules are ethical, while actions that do not, are not. This ethical theory is most closely associated with German philosopher, Immanuel Kant:

                                                                Immanuel Kant

• Teleological ethics

Consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act is one that will produce a good outcome.

• virtue-based ethics

Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character.

Practical Ethics

Practical ethics is meant to concern substantive moral issues facing many of us each day, such as abortion or climate change. The subject of normative or theoretical ethics is the more abstract principles that might enable us to make decisions about these practical issues.

Practical Ethics by Peter Singer

Happiness😀😀😀

What is happiness?

Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness. Happiness is generally linked to experiencing more positive feelings than negative. Perfect happiness, enlightenment, comes when you have all. Happiness is when your life fulfills your needs. In other words, happiness comes when you feel satisfied and fulfilled. Happiness is a feeling of contentment that life is just as it should be. Perfect happiness, enlightenment, comes when you have all of your needs satisfied.

Interinsic value

If something has intrinsic value, it is good on its own and isn't utilized for attaining anything else. An example of an intrinsic value would in fact be happiness, since being happy is worthy on its own, not because happiness will attain something greater or different.

Why does happiness have intrinsic value?

Because our nature has a capacity for it, and because every practical action, in some way, works toward it, happiness has intrinsic value. Happiness involves not only psychic development (valuing the right things, feeling right toward good things, being motivated to act). It also includes external goods and moral luck different.

In conclusion, happiness can most certainly be found and not just momentary pleasure, but genuine, long-lasting happiness, which is not something that comes to a person randomly.

Dinesh Shiwantha Wanigathunga

dineshshiwantha@gmail.com