Happiness is mostly used in relation to two factors:
The current experience of the feeling of an
emotion (affect)
such as pleasure or joy, or of a more general sense of
'emotional condition as a whole'. For instance Daniel Kahneman
has defined happiness as "what I experience here and now". This
usage is prevalent in dictionary definitions of happiness.
appraisal of life satisfaction, such as of quality of life. For
instance Ruut Veenhoven has defined happiness as "overall
appreciation of one's life as-a-whole.": 2 Kahneman has said
that this is more important to people than current experience.
Some usages can include both of these factors. Subjective
well-being (swb) includes measures of current experience
(emotions, moods, and feelings) and of life satisfaction.[nb 1]
For instance Sonja Lyubomirsky has described happiness as "the
experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined
with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and
worthwhile." Eudaimonia, is a Greek term variously translated as
happiness, welfare, flourishing, and blessedness. Xavier Lands
has proposed that happiness include measures of subjective
wellbeing, mood and eudaimonia.
These differing uses can
give different results. Whereas Nordic countries often score
highest on swb surveys, South American countries score higher on
affect-based surveys of current positive life
experiencing.
The implied meaning of the word may vary depending on
context, qualifying happiness as a polyseme and a fuzzy concept.
A further issue is when measurement is made; appraisal of a
level of happiness at the time of the experience may be
different from appraisal via memory at a later date.
Some
users accept these issues, but continue to use the word because
of its convening power.
Changes of meaning over time
Happiness may have had a different meaning at the time of
drafting of the US Declaration of Independence compared to now.
Measurement
Worldwide levels of happiness as measured by the
World Happiness Report (2023)
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People have been trying to
measure happiness for centuries. In 1780, the English
utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed that as
happiness was the primary goal of humans it should be measured
as a way of determining how well
the government was performing.
Today, happiness is typically measured using self-report
surveys. Self-reporting is prone to cognitive biases and other
sources of errors, such as peak�end rule. Studies show that
memories of felt emotions can be inaccurate. Affective
forecasting research shows that people are poor predictors of
their future emotions, including how happy they will be.
Happiness economists are not overly concerned with philosophical
and methodological issues and continue to use questionnaires to
measure average happiness of populations.
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Aristotle described eudaimonia as the goal of human thought and action. Eudaimonia is often translated to mean happiness, but some scholars contend that "human flourishing" may be a more accurate translation. Aristotle's use of the term in Nicomachiean Ethics extends beyond the general sense of happiness.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 BCE, Aristotle stated that happiness (also being well and doing well) is the only thing that humans desire for their own sake, unlike riches, honour, health or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honour, or health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy.[63] For Aristotle the term eudaimonia, which is translated as 'happiness' or 'flourishing' is an activity rather than an emotion or a state. Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) is a classical Greek word consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well-being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Thus understood, the happy life is the good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way.
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Specifically, Aristotle argued that the good life is the life of excellent rational activity. He arrived at this claim with the "Function Argument". Basically, if it is right, every living thing has a function, that which it uniquely does. For Aristotle human function is to reason, since it is that alone which humans uniquely do. And performing one's function well, or excellently, is good. According to Aristotle, the life of excellent rational activity is the happy life. Aristotle argued a second-best life for those incapable of excellent rational activity was the life of moral virtue.
The key question Aristotle seeks to answer is "What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?" A lot of people are seeking pleasure, health, and a good reputation. It is true that those have a value, but none of them can occupy the place of the greatest good for which humanity aims. It may seem like all goods are a means to obtain happiness, but Aristotle said that happiness is always an end in itself.