The Great Ideas
Happiness
INTRODUCTION
OUTLINE,
REFERENCES, and
CROSS-REFERENCES
ADDITIONAL READINGS
1. The desire for happiness:
its naturalness and universality
by Mortimer J. Adler
Each of The Great Ideas has an Introduction,
an essay which serves as a guide to the topics and,
through them, to the content of the references.
REFERENCES, and
CROSS-REFERENCES
Following the Introduction is an Outline of Topics within The Great Idea.
It states the major themes to be found in The Great Books on that idea
and exhibits the internal structure of that idea in the relation of one
topic to another.
Each topic in the outline directs you to the list of references
for that topic.
See Topic 1, above, for explanation of the References.
2.
The understanding of happiness: definitions and myths
Cross-Reference follow some topics.
The Cross-References direct you to other of The Great Ideas
in which similar and related matters are considered.
a.
The marks of a happy man, the quality of a happy life
b.
The content of a happy life: the parts or constituents of happiness
(1)
The contribution of the goods of fortune to happiness:
wealth, health, longevity
(2)
Pleasure and happiness
(3)
Virtue in relation to happiness
(4)
The role of honor in happiness
(5)
The importance of friendship and love for happiness
(6)
The effect of political power or status on happiness
(7)
The function of knowledge and wisdom in the happy life:
the place of speculative activity and contemplation
3.
The argument concerning happiness as a first principle of morality:
the conflicting claims of duty and happiness
- For: Other treatments of the conflict between an ethics of happiness and an ethics of duty,
- see DUTY 2; PLEASURE AND PAIN 8b; PRINCIPLE 4-4b.
- a.
Man's capacity for happiness:
differences in human nature with respect to happiness
- For: The bearing of natural desire on the pursuit of happiness,
- see DESIRE 2a, 3a, 7b; LOVE 5a-5a(1); WILL 7d.
- b.
The attainability of happiness:
the fear of death and the tragic view of human life
- For: The relation of happiness to death and the fear of death,
- see IMMORTALITY 1; LIFE AND DEATH 8a-8c.
- a.
The happiness of the individual
in relation to the happiness or good of other men
- b.
The happiness of the individual in relation to the welfare of the state:
happiness in relation to government and diverse forms of government
- For: Other considerations of individual happiness in relation to the state or the common good,
- see GOOD AND EVIL 5d; STATE 2f.
7. The distinction between temporal and eternal happiness
- a.
The effects of original sin:
the indispensability of divine grace
for the attainment of natural happiness
- b.
The imperfection of temporal happiness:
its failure to satisfy natural desire
- c.
Eternal beatitude: the perfection of human happiness
- (1)
The beatific vision
- (2)
The joy of the blessed: the communion of saints
- (3)
The misery of the damned
- For: Basic notions involved in the Christian doctrine of supernatural happiness or eternal beatitude,
- see ETERNITY 4d; GOD 6c(4), 7d, 7g; IMMORTALITY 5e-5g; LOVE 5a(2); PUNISHMENT 5d, 5e(1); SIN 3c-3d, 4d, 6d, 7; VIRTUE AND VICE 8b, 8e; WILL 7e-7e(2).
- d. The beatitude of God
- For: Another discussion of the beatitude of God,
- see GOD 4h.
Home page Center for the Study of The Great Ideas
Additional Readings supplement the discussion found in
The Great Books.
REFERENCES, and
CROSS-REFERENCES;
ADDITIONAL READINGS
Revised 13 December 1998.