“Happiness depends on us.” Aristotle – Happiness
Do we have the power to make ourselves happy?
Students think and talk about happiness all of the time. Some believe happiness is something we control and that if we just do the right things we will become happy. There are others who think of happiness as a byproduct of a good environment and not something we can control. The issue of whether we control our happiness is an important one because it determines whether or not a student develops a healthy capacity for self-motivation and goal-setting.
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons | Tilemahos Efthimiadis | Creative Commons
Transcript
Steve Fouts: 0:04
Hey everybody, Steve and Dan Fouts here. We’re teaching different with Aristotle, with a quote about happiness. “Happiness depends on us.” Happiness is obviously something that the students are going to be familiar with, some more than others. This is a quote to be a little careful with because some of the students are at a point in their life where things might not be going the way they want. It’s really good to get definitions on the types of things that make students happy. In general different things make people happy. Aristotle is saying something here about happiness, that we have a degree of control over it. Dan, what would you say the claim is for this quote, “happiness depends on ourselves.”
Dan Fouts: 1:20 – Claim
I think he’s putting the responsibility to become happy on the individual. As you’re looking at your life, and you want to become happy, you need to understand that it’s your responsibility to achieve that with the choices you make, and the attitudes you have. Aristotle was big on virtue ethics. When you act virtuously, in a way that is honorable and courageous, and you act with honesty you’ll become happy. He was all about the individual doing things, a decision, an attitude, and action all flows from the individual.
Steve Fouts: 2:10
I think that’s what is so insightful about this quote. I think most people think happiness is more like the weather. It’s a mood. Sometimes we’re happy. Sometimes we’re sad. We have an idea of what makes us happy, and that might be another good question to ask students, what makes you happy? What do you look forward to that you know will make you happy? But, it’s hard to predict. Sometimes happiness comes and goes, and we don’t even realize it. I think you’re right about the claim. It’s all about control. That’s the insight.
Dan Fouts: 3:00
That’s the key with Aristotle. It’s about activity, doing things that depend on you. You choose to do things to make yourself happy.
Steve Fouts: 3:11
Yeah, and if you do the right things, you will be happy. That was his belief.
Dan Fouts: 3:16
Yeah, and the storytelling here too. You can have students talk about a time when they felt happiness and what they did.
Steve Fouts: 3:26
Have them talk about when they felt the most happy. You could ask them to share a story about when they felt they were the happiest person in the world. Now let’s introduce the counterclaim to this quote. What do you say?
Dan Fouts: 3:45 – Counterclaim
I think the other way of looking at this is that people in your environment; determine your happiness, not you. You’re kind of a reactor to your environment. This puts the responsibility of happiness on the environment that you find yourself in and the people you find yourself around. It’s an interesting shift of responsibility here.
Steve Fouts: 4:14
This is the way a lot of people think about happiness. When things aren’t going their way, they’re unhappy, but they don’t control that, they’re just reacting.
Dan Fouts: 4:31
You feel like a pawn.
Steve Fouts: 4:34
Exactly.
Dan Fouts: 4:36
One way to make this distinction is that happiness is something external that is imposed upon you or that is brought to you by your environment. Aristotle, back to the claim, is saying happiness is an internal locus of control. It’s an interaction difference.
Steve Fouts: 5:01 – Essential Question
Yeah. Happiness is the result of a favorable environment. Aristotle would say, you make happiness, forget about the environment, this is an internal thing. It’s a very clear distinction.
Well, here’s an essential question you can ask that can get the students to reflect and come up with ideas that they’re going to work out on their own to decide how they feel about happiness. Can we make ourselves happy? This question touches the heart of whether or not you are in control of your own happiness. If you can make yourself happy, and be convinced that it’s possible, it can transform your life. You will develop courage and perseverance. You’ll feel like there’s nothing you can’t conquer, and nothing can get in your way except yourself.
Dan Fouts: 6:18
Right, and the other skills, like goal setting and self motivation. Those are possible if you first come to the conclusion that you have the power to make yourself happy. If you answer no to that, it’s really hard to be motivated to do anything. I think kids realize that. It’s very important for them to realize that they have the power to improve their condition.
Steve Fouts: 6:52
You’re also going to get some students responding to the counterclaim, understandably so. There are some instances where maybe we can’t do it.
Dan Fouts: 7:01
This is a really important discussion.
Steve Fouts: 7:03
We hope you enjoyed Aristotle and happiness this week. Go to our Conversation Library to sign-up for our weekly conversation starters. Take a look at the Teach Different society. We have a lot of conversations there with great resources for the classroom. Take care everybody.
Dan Fouts: 7:26
All right, goodbye.
