There are three main theories of what happiness is.
Hedonism Theory:
It is believed that a happy life maximizes feeling of pleasure and minimizes pain. A happy person would smile a lot, have a lot of energy and so forth. The problem with this theory is whose life it is actually talking about. Is it the experiencer or the observer?
Consider this. A person hosts a Christmas party. When asked how her Christmas was, the person might say it was fantastic and it was nice to be with the family. However, this statement would disregard the hard work and fights that came about from the party preparations.
Desire Theory:
This theory is simple. If you get what you desire, you will be happy.
One might ask, however, if fulfilling the desire of something that harms your health and well-being would truly bring you happiness.
Objective List Theory:
It is believed that achieving certain things from a list of worthwhile pursuits would make you happy.
I believe each theory on its own is not enough to make use genuinely happy, but a balanced combination of the 3 theories could possibly help us achieve what we call authentic happiness.
What do you think?
