Thursday, February 28, 2013

Happiness v Right

So there are tons of things in life that render happiness. There is also this idea of what is morally right, or morally permissible. The idea of utility plays a role in these moral decisions. What is good? Good yields the most pleasure while minimizing pain. Bad? The opposite.

What happens when a situation is at hand, and there are different factors to weigh? What happens when pleasure for yourself means pain for another? How is that to be measured? It's a question that has been examined for centuries, and yet there is barely a plausible answer. To many, there is a way to determine the weight of pain and pleasure.

I personally feel that there is no way of determining degrees of pain and pleasure. For each person, it is different. There is no established measurement for happiness. There is no point system, or weight. Maybe I'm a little bit selfish, but I feel that I need to do all I can to make myself happy.

This contradicts with social utility in that social utility is the maximization of happiness amongst society. While considering only my own happiness, I am disregarding the happiness of the rest of society. What if the cause of my happiness is the cause of devastation for the rest of society? Would I be doing the right then in that respect? From my point of view, probably. From other's points of view - probably not.

My discussion falls into the philosophy of Emmanuel Kant. The categorical imperative insists that one must treat another as an ends rather than a means. Now, if my overall purpose in life is to achieve happiness - what would my means be? What means would I have to apply to achieve happiness? What if I negatively affect someone on my pursuit of happiness?

I often have thoughts regarding such situations. Under what circumstances is it permissible to inflict pain on another in hopes of achieving my own pleasure? I have decided that holistic selflessness is extremely rare. It is a very difficult concept to apply to one's life, because we are all selfish in our own ways - however discreet.

I do not believe that people pursue pain rather than pleasure - unless there is a masochistic factor involved. The pursuit of happiness is one that has been examined for centuries, as previously mentioned. It seems that selfishness may probably be the best answer to many situations in that happiness stems from what one believes. It has a different meaning for everyone.

The same concept applies to pleasure. One may find pleasure in whipping himself or cutting his skin. The general societal idea of pleasure does not apply to all. I do not find pleasure in inflicting pain upon myself, yet others may - and would this person be acting wrong or immorally? What if a person is a sadist - and finds pleasure in inflicting pain upon others? What, then, do we consider is morally permissible?

Moral permission seems to rely on people's concepts of right and wrong - but there honestly cannot be an explicit definition of what is wrong and wrong, or good and bad. Selfishness is often viewed as a negative trait of a person - yet I feel that with selfishness, one truly understands what is desired. The desire to attain happiness is a universal principle, but the definition of happiness has yet to be determined.


xo.E

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