PSY336H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Jeremy Bentham, Epicurus, Positive Psychology
Document Summary
Psy336 lecture 2: definitions of happiness and well-being. Hedonic: experience aspect; pleasure of mind and body ; maps onto definition we gave of happiness. Aristippus - 4th century bc greek philosopher. The goal of life is to experience pleasure. Not only is this the purpose and goal in life but this is imperative and ethical thing to do, by pursuing pleasure it"ll lead to the greatest common good; it"s our moral obligation as humans. Happiness is the successful pursuit of human appetites. Avoiding sin - a lot of things that are hedonically pleasurable goes against religious morals. Began to wane away but hobbes revived that. Seeking to maximize happiness builds a good society. We should measure the happiness of peoples, countries, workplaces and by seeking to maximize experience of happiness to better society. Utilitarian perspective: the most ethical choice is going to be the one that produces the greatest good/greatest number of people.
