Philosophy of Happiness:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem, self-actualization)-
p 48 “I have already enjoyed too
much; give me something to desire.”
-Pursuit of self-actualization
Commonality of Human Nature:
P 66- “The Europeans are less unhappy than we, but they are
not happy, Human life is every where a state in which much is to be endured,
and little to be enjoyed.”
P 78- “This state only was happiness, and that this
happiness was in every one’s power.”
“Be not too
hasty to trust, or to admire, the teachers of morality: the discourse like
angels, but they live like men.”
P89- “Tell me if thou waterest, through all thy course, a
single habitation from which thou dost not hear the murmur of complaint?”
Development of Search:
-Poetry: the highest form of learning and half about nature,
half about studying every mode of life. (p 63 “All the appearances of nature I was
therefore careful to study.”) This takes place when they are still in the happy
valley.
-Out of Happy Valley: Chapter XVI They enter Cairo, and find every man happy
Expectation
that happiness would be reached once they were out of the valley
They find
this false
Search
takes on a more structured approach in Chapter XVII The prince associates with young men of spirit and gaiety: p 76-77 “Happiness,
said he, must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without
uncertainty.”
Discover that
not everyone in Cairo is happy in Chapter XVIII The prince finds a wise and happy man. P 78 “Happiness was in every
one’s power” –flawed logic
See the danger of prosperity
(Chapter XX)
-Nature: Happiness of hermit
Happiness of a life led according to nature
P85- “Nothing is more idle, than to enquire after happiness,
which nature has kindly placed within our reach. The way to be happy is to live
according to nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable law.”
(philosopher—Rasselas did not find this to be an adequate explanation)
-Middle Fortunes: Nekayah, p 86 “What this world can give may be found in the
modest habitations of middle fortunes; too low for great designs, and too high
for penury and distress.”
Symbols:
Always appear in italics
-Happy valley
-Choice of life
Miriam Lewis
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