What Are the 3 Philosophical Pillars of Happiness?

TL;DR

Deep happiness rests on three pillars drawn from 2,500 years of philosophy: it is not measured by pleasure but by eudaimonia or flourishing; it requires moderation and a middle way; and it emerges only from goodness and virtue. As Jonny Thomson puts it, happiness is not a smiling face but a smiling soul.

Transcript

• So in his "Nicomachean Ethics," Aristotle argues that everything we do in life is for some further purpose. So I go to school to get an education, I get an education to get a job, and I get a job so that I get money to buy nice things, and so on and so on. But the question Aristotle asks is what is the end point of all this? What lies at the top ... Read More

Key Insights

• Happiness, for Aristotle in the 'Nicomachean Ethics,' is the end point of all human action. Every action serves a further purpose until you reach the top of the ladder, which is happiness itself.
• Eudaimonia, often translated as 'flourishing,' differs from simple pleasure (hedonia) because it is understood in reverse. Raising young kids or school feels hard at the time, yet you look back and recognize deep happiness.
• Pleasure cannot equal happiness because it is an unwinnable game. Buddhism defines pleasure as a desire satisfier, and since we have millions of desires daily, chasing them is like a game of whack-a-mole.
• Fetishizing suffering is a logical fallacy. Just because pleasure does not equal happiness does not mean suffering does; equating masochistic misery with flourishing is a real risk to avoid.
• Moderation is the second pillar, central to Daoism's middle path between yin and yang. The Swedish concept lagom, meaning 'just the right amount,' captures both fair usage and the idea that less is more.
• Happiness is an emergent state of goodness: you cannot be truly happy unless you are also virtuous. Across cultures and eras, certain traits have consistently been named virtues and others vices.
• Five enduring virtue-vice pairs recur across philosophy: altruism versus egoism, kindness versus cruelty, justice versus injustice, wisdom versus ignorance, and humility versus arrogance.
• Robin Dunbar's study of gossip found it works as social culling. People talk about cheaters, liars, and thieves to shun them, while the kind and friendly are welcomed into society.

Questions & Answers

Q: What are the three pillars of happiness according to Jonny Thomson?

Jonny Thomson identifies three pillars, or lights, that emerge across philosophical traditions. The first is that happiness is not measured by pleasure. The second is moderation, finding a middle way in all things. The third is that happiness is an emergent state of goodness, meaning you cannot be truly and meaningfully happy unless you are also virtuous. He draws these from schools like Buddhism, Daoism, and ancient Greek philosophy across 2,500 years of thought.

Q: What is the difference between hedonia and eudaimonia?

Hedonia is what the ancient Greeks called simple pleasure, an emotional affect that is easy to measure and understand, like a big night out or drinking herbal tea on the sofa. Eudaimonia is harder to understand and is often translated as 'flourishing.' It is frequently understood in reverse: many experiences feel hard at the time, such as raising young kids or school, yet looking back you realize you were deeply and supremely happy. Pleasure is not an essential ingredient of eudaimonia.

Q: Why does the video say pleasure cannot equal happiness?

Buddhism defines pleasure as a desire satisfier: you want water, reach for it, drink it, and gain pleasure. The problem is this is an unwinnable game because every day we have millions of desires and no way to satisfy them all, like a game of whack-a-mole. If we are to be happy at all, it must be found outside the notion of pleasure, stepping beyond hedonia. This idea appears across many philosophical schools, and is central to Buddhism.

Q: What is lagom and how does it relate to moderation?

Lagom is a Swedish lifestyle concept meaning 'just the right amount,' and it illustrates the second pillar of moderation. It has two elements. The first is a kind of fair usage policy: if you take all the cookies in the jar, you leave none for others, so your actions affect other people. The second is recognizing that sometimes less really is more; one coffee with a friend is enjoyable, but seven coffees is not so much. This echoes Daoism's middle path.

Q: What are the five virtues and vices identified in the video?

Thomson identifies five enduring virtue-vice pairs. Altruism versus egoism, a sense of other-regardedness and charity, seen in Augustine and Islam's zakat. Kindness versus cruelty, captured by the golden mean and 'do unto others.' Justice versus injustice, agreed on by Plato, Mencius, and John Rawls. Wisdom versus ignorance, reflected in Socrates' 'the unexamined life is not worth living.' And humility versus arrogance, both intellectual and existential, represented by John Stuart Mill and the religions.

Q: How does parenting illustrate the first pillar of happiness?

Parenting shows that happiness cannot be measured by pleasure. Social media posts from new parents inevitably moan about sleep-deprived nights, germs, or kids not eating, appearing full of stress and misery. Yet if you ask those same parents why they had kids or why kids make them unhappy, they often reply, 'I'm the happiest I've ever been.' Parenting is an example of looking back at a stage of life and recognizing that though the individual ingredients were hard, as a whole you were deeply, existentially happy.

Q: Why do extreme diets fail according to the video?

Dieting best illustrates the second pillar of moderation. Most diets end within a month, if not weeks, and most new year's resolutions end quickly. Resolutions like going to the gym every day, running half marathons, giving up chocolate, or never drinking alcohol again fail because they are so extreme. While extreme dieting works for some people, for most people dieting is best when it happens in the middle way, allowing a degree of flexibility and moderation rather than rigid all-or-nothing rules.

Q: What did Robin Dunbar's study on gossip reveal about happiness and goodness?

Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar studied gossip and argued it functions as a kind of social culling. We talk about the cheaters, liars, and thieves in our lives so we can shun them from society. Inversely, those who are friendly and kind are welcomed into society. This supports the third pillar that happiness requires goodness, suggesting that being kind and friendly leads to social acceptance, whereas cruelty and immorality lead to being shunned, even if some cruel people appear happy on the surface.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Aristotle argued in the 'Nicomachean Ethics' that everything we do serves a further purpose, with happiness at the top of the ladder. Jonny Thomson, Big Think staff writer and author of 'Mini Philosophy,' says happiness is elusive because it is confused with a smiling face rather than a smiling soul.

• Surveying philosophical schools like epicureanism, cynicism, stoicism, and skepticism, Thomson identifies three pillars of happiness. The first is that happiness is not measured by pleasure; the Greek hedonia is simple pleasure, while eudaimonia, or flourishing, is often understood only in reverse, as with parenting.

• The second pillar is moderation, the middle way seen in Daoism's yin and yang and the Swedish concept of lagom. The third is that happiness requires goodness and virtue, expressed through five enduring virtue-vice pairs, applied to everyday examples like parenting, dieting, and social behavior.