John Stuart Mill states in his essay that one of the main misunderstandings of Utilitarianism is that people often confuse happiness with contentment. This statement immediately struck me in class because I feel like I always hear those words interchangeably, and I feel as though that is a common mistake. When I was younger my understanding that these two words were, in fact, synonyms. The way in which these words differ is hard to articulate through words. Mill states that humans would never choose contentment, and would always want to "engage in meaningful projects." Its easy to see how that can be true. To me, this differentiates happiness from contentment in the ways of comfort. Contentment is absolute comfort; while happiness is absolute joy and pleasure. I am content when I know that nothing will disturb the ebb and flow of my existence, but happiness would be a heightened point in that contentment. They can be compared like this: contentment to me is like "chilling" watching Netflix for hours on end, but happiness is like finally cracking a puzzle that you have been working on or finally understanding the main idea of a book you are reading (nerdy examples but personally true). The act of "Netflix and chilling" only creates contentment; while something more groundbreaking is happiness. The mere theory and possibility of utilitarianism as an obtainable reality, it sounds pretty good to me. If we all aimed to produce the most happiness for the most people, I feel as though the world would be pretty fun to live in. As Dr. J has stated, the way in which the world works now is probably almost entirely utilitarian, but if it was possible to convince everyone to do so it truly would be amazing. I'd definitely sign up to Netflix, chill, and then some.
When I heard that in class, I was so confused. I always thought that being content was being happy. I never really thought that happiness was on a much higher level than being content. I feel like being content is just a temporary thing rather than being happy. To me, being content seems like just basic satisfaction like a good meal when you are hungry or a nap after a long day. Being happy, I think is more long term. Happiness is an overall goal, so you can be happy and not be content.
ReplyDeleteWhen I the title of your article, I was worried that it was going to be about something else. I agree with your analysis Kenzie, I think that contentment is merely the satisfaction of the basic need of life. Happiness on the other hand is something that take some level of rationality to attain.You gave a good example of it when you talked about finally being able to solve that puzzle.
ReplyDeleteWhen I the title of your article, I was worried that it was going to be about something else. I agree with your analysis Kenzie, I think that contentment is merely the satisfaction of the basic need of life. Happiness on the other hand is something that take some level of rationality to attain.You gave a good example of it when you talked about finally being able to solve that puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI might even take your analysis one step farther and say that contentment is the absence of pain. Since there are the two levels of happiness (lower and higher) I would have to say that the meeting of your basic needs could fall under lower happiness. The satisfaction of getting a meal or of getting a drink of water when you're thirsty. It is a lower level of happiness that anyone would go for. The higher level of happiness is something completely different. You would choose less of a higher happiness then more of a lower happiness.
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