Must a Person be Moral In Order to Obtain True Happiness

Must a person be moral in order to obtain true happiness? The moral is the principles on which one's judgments of right and wrong are based(Cite Wikipedia). In addition, is concerned with how people distinguish what behavior is right or wrong and what behavior is good or bad. Moral view with the different standards as personal like goals, norms, values, and beliefs from the moment people are born their conscience allows them to do whatever they want.

Also, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined by, among others, positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy (Cite Wikipedia).In addition, happiness is defined as having freedom, enjoying family, and being content in their life. According to many philosophers, morality does not include selfishness or making exceptions in one's own favor just because it suits one to do so. In another word, morality cannot be necessary for true happiness.

First, that moral behavior is not necessary to be happy. For examples, there are many people who have not acted morally in the world and they are very happy in their lives. When people think or speak about morals people automatically think about right and wrong. In another word, is concerned with how people act in a good or bad way.

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According to this two philosophies' Mill said a person could do the right thing, and act morally while also having the desire to do the wrong thing. For example of a rescuer who saves another person from drowning. The person helps this person because it is morally right, regardless of being seen as a good Samaritan or if he would've been compensated for his actions.

Aristotle centers his moral theory on virtuous action and he said that virtue is necessary, but not sufficient for happiness. In another word, people need virtue to lead a happy life, but essentially, virtue alone will not make you happy. In another word to people be happy is not necessary to have morality.

Moral badness consists in doing everything for one's own sake, moral goodness in acting for the sake of the noble, for the sake of others and without paying attention to one's own interests. (Cite Aristotle's theory Encyclopedia) in addition, moral behavior simply put is doing the right thing that will benefit others people and not you. This being said, what people see as the right thing to do is completely personal. For example, what you may see as right, might not seem right to another person all this depends on the person, of their personality, the way they were brought up, as well as how they think.

According to Plato "If there are no consequences to immoral behavior, then there is no motivational pressure for morality."(Cite Plato Wikipedia). It can be viewed as the fact that if there were no consequences, there would be much more immoral behavior because it is simply easier to do.

To put it plainly there are many people out there who have acted immorally and yet are happy to this very day with their lives.
Second, Aristotle puts it right when he contends that happiness is something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.-thus, he defines happiness as "an activity in accordance with virtue"(Cite Aristotle).

Evidently, it is inferred from this, that happiness presupposes a virtuous or a good way of living as its prerequisite. Happiness is something that one obtains over a lifetime of happy events and completed goals describing how people feel. It is a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that can last for any amount of time of their life.

Happiness is an instinctive due to the fact that what can make one or some people happy might not be the case for others. In short, happiness can come from any aspect of a person's life. For example about an accomplishment, or something good that is happenings in their life. Happiness if it is possible is even more personal than morality. Suffice to say happiness is a reaction, so basically one becomes happy after they have done or received something. There is the occasion of a person who is happy for no reason.

In summary, it is not necessary to behave morally to achieve happiness. With morality and happiness being as personal as they are, especially in the world we live in today with all this greed, the immoral behavior will seem much more appealing to the average person. This is due to the fact that immoral actions can create a shorter and quicker path towards instant gratification inducing happiness in a person. People don't have to be perfect to be happy.

In contrast, some philosopher thinks the morality is essentially a requisite for happiness. Like Emmanuel Kant's theory believed that certain types of actions including murder, theft, and lying were absolutely prohibited, even in cases where the action would bring about more happiness than the alternative(Cite Kantian ethics).

That means most people believe that all people have a moral reason to not just develop their own happiness, but also the happiness of others by doing what is right. An individual's happiness is influenced by the actions of the person, as well as those of the people around them. That means that these people choose the happiness of other people besides their own happiness.

In addition, people should prefer their own happiness first and don't think about moral behavior because morally behavior just refers to human actions just only judge people by right or wrong. The belief that the means to happiness should be justifiable and acceptable.

In short, a person who is characterized by immoral behavior is likely to receive a negative comment from other people. The idea that moral behavior is necessary for happiness it's not true according to with Aristotle's view on ethics disregards the role of morality in the achievement of happiness.

Most religious teachings attest to the view that morality is necessary for happiness. Happiness comes as a reward to individuals who conform to a society's norms. However, morality is "the rules and precepts for human conduct, and not simply the causes of human behavior"(Cite Mill).

For example, they are a lot of religion out there but Christianity religion in specific put much stress on the strong connection between moral behavior and happiness. Christianity promises happiness to those who are morally upright. People should disagree that morality is necessary for happiness because people have to care about first about their own happiness first and then about others.

For philosopher Aristotle and Plato, people cannot use a principle to the determine the right courses of actions. In short, people need to look at what good and virtuous people would be able to really understand a situation see what is the best. For example, a good person has a good character such as generosity, and kindness and will use those qualities in making moral judgments and decisions.

They will take pleasure in sacrificing their own comfort for the good of another. That's not fair because they are sacrificing their own happiness to make happy another person. People should disagree and build their own happiness first.

Happiness depends on ourselves. Aristotle saw happiness as a central purpose of the human life and goal. they should be able to be morally upright. In summary, people don't depend on somebody else to be happy, they depend on their own self to get a happy life without negative comment saying what is good or bad.

The principle of happiness bases morality as an incentive to happiness which in itself is not moral. This means people will seek to be moral for the sake of happiness and not for the sake of morality Therefore if the morality is just an incentive to happiness, it means that others may achieve happiness without the use of incentive. Thus we can conclude that morality is not a requirement for happiness.

In conclusion, people are still choosing a life that is based on happiness. Choosing to define your own happiness. Happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence. In summary, there are many beliefs and ideas about happiness. But I believe morality is not necessary to be happy.

Because people are free to do where they want, and people can extremely happy without morality happiness is something that happens in people life it can be any kind of thing, for example, an accomplish, family or something different. People don't need morality to be happy. Morality is defined as right or wrong. Happiness something good that's happening in people life.

Works Cited

• Aristotle Ethics Of Happiness Philosophy Essay. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/aristotle-ethics-of-happiness-philosophy-essay.php?vref=1
• Achieving Happiness: Advice from Plato.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ethics-everyone/201008/achieving-happiness-advice-plato.
• “Happiness.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness
• “Morality.” AllAboutPhilosophy.org, www.allaboutphilosophy.org/morality.htm.
• Vaknin, S. (n.d.). Morality as a Mental State. Retrieved from http://samvak.tripod.com/moral.html
• Findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n122_v31/ai_18435720/+http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/#Oth+http://books.google.ca/books?id=oj83D7aBgKMC&pg=PA94&dq=moral+behaviour+and+happiness
• “Utilitarianism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism.
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