The Impact Of Th John Stuart Mill On The Pursuit Of Happiness
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Epicurus was a Greek Philosopher who is famous for putting forward the theory of hedonism. According to Epicurus happiness is pleasure and he also describes pleasure as the most important intrinsic value. Epicurus believed that in order to live a life full of happiness one must remove unnecessary desire and obtaining antaraxia (a state of serene calmness) by simply being confirmed by a simple life style and only pursuing what is necessary. Some examples that are claimed as necessary by the Greek Philosopher is the desire to be free from bodily pain and help in producing happiness but unnecessary desires like yearning for an up to date car, or a more luxuries meal leads to pain and ushers unhappiness. For the philosopher the main goal was to eliminate pain and fear from the body and the mind. It wasn’t just the positive pursuit of happiness because when we do not feel pain we would no longer need to desire for unnecessary pleasures.…show more content… Mill was utilitarianism and defined it by “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness are intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.” Just like Epicurus, Mill also thought happiness was pleasure but without any pain and unhappiness was pain without pleasure. Mill believed that happiness could differ from quality and quantitate. This philosopher believed that happiness is the only thing necessary for all people but argued that if a pleasure brought you happiness yet it brought pain to a significant amount of others then you had to reanalyze what you did in order to get pleasure. John Stuart Mill figured that someone’s pleasure should not bring pain to others and that one must remember and respect the happiness of others before pursuing happiness. He believed that whatever brought the most happiness to the most amount of people was