What is happiness? Everyone talks about it and we all know it and feel it, but it is difficult to define, many philosophers and thinkers of all kinds have tried to reflect on the mysteries of this emotion, among them is Aristotle, who thought that the last end of man was happiness, or Epicure, who believed that happiness was the foundation of life. In this article we will review what psychology says about happiness, in particular, we will talk about eudaimony and hedonism.
Psychology, through a review of philosophical literature and scientific experiments, has observed that happiness can be felt in different ways, it is easy to think that happiness can be found going partying with friends or enjoying a good vacation, but many people also find happiness in effort, study for a particular trade , learn a new language, etc. , and this is where the concepts of ediamony and hedonism come in.
- Before explaining these two psychological terms.
- It is important to highlight some details.
- Eudaimony and hedonism are terms of philosophy.
- For example.
- We already find them in Aristotle and Epicurus trying to explain happiness.
- And although these terms were appropriated by psychology by their history.
- Their conception is significantly different.
- So it is important to note that the definition we will use below.
- Comes from a psychological aspect beyond philosophical.
Hedonism is the most tangible happiness, it is the joy that one feels when performing enriching activities, it is the feeling of pleasure and motivation to avoid discomfort, it can be said that this type of happiness is based on the following characteristics:
Many behaviors do not give us immediate happiness and even require effort, in addition, they make us feel, sometimes, negative emotions, characteristics of this type of motivation, but despite this, we continue to perform these behaviors diligently and even feel satisfied This is because these behaviors give us a personal development, which is lived with euimonic joy, examples of this eudaimony can be training for a career , learn a language, learn other cultures, explore yourself, etc.
To define eudaimonia, we can use the following characteristics
What is better: hedonistic happiness or eudimonic happiness ?, the answer is that both are often a motivation in our lives, so they are responsible for promoting pleasant behavior and personal development, respectively, in this sense it seems essential to find a personal balance. between the two, so that one does not end up being an obstacle to the other.
Today, thanks in large part to the consumer society in which we live, we base our lives on hedonism, over-spend our resources on short-term pleasures, and forget our personal development or indirectly seek it through this consumption. much of the population hates their professional life and the only satisfaction they can find is through hedonistic pleasures. It is important not to forget or set aside our self-realization, as this is the only way to get to udaimonia.