The philosophy of happiness is the philosophical concern with the existence, nature, and attainment of happiness. Some philosophers believe happiness can be understood as the moral goal of life or as an aspect of chance; indeed, in most European languages the term happiness is synonymous with luck.Cassin et al. Dictionary of Untranslatables. Princeton University Press, 2014. Print. Thus, philosophers usually explicate on happiness as either a state of mind, or a life that goes well for the person leading it. Given the pragmatic concern for the attainment of happiness, research in psychology has guided many modern-day philosophers in developing their theories.

Ancient Greece

Democritus Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) is known as the 'laughing philosopher' because of his emphasis on the value of 'cheerfulness'.

Plato

Plato (c. 428 c. 347 BCE) teaches in the Republic that a life committed to knowledge and virtue will result in happiness and self-realization. To achieve happiness, one should become immune to changes in the material world and strive to gain the knowledge of the eternal, immutable forms that reside in the realm of ideas.

The Chariot Allegory from the Phaedrus is possibly Plato’s most important teaching on how to achieve inner happiness.

Plato sees societal happiness stemming from citizens treating each other justly, leading virtuous lives, and each fulfilling their social function.

Aristotle

Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) was considered an ancient Greek scholar in the disciplines of ethics, metaphysics, biology and botany, amongst others. Aristotle described eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) 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.Daniel N. Robinson. (1999). Aristotle's Psychology. Published by Daniel N. Robinson. More specifically, eudaimonia (arete, Greek: ἀρετή) refers to an inherently positive and divine state of being in which humanity can actively strive for and achieve. Given that this state is the most positive state for a human to be in, it is often simplified to mean happiness. However, Aristotle's use of the term in Nicomachiean Ethics extends beyond the general sense of happiness.Aristotle., Bartlett, R. C., & Collins, S. D. (2011). Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Within the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle points to the fact that many aims are really only intermediate aims, and are desired only because they make the achievement of higher aims possible.Book I Chapter 1 1094a. Therefore, things such as wealth, intelligence, and courage are valued only in relation to other things, while eudaimonia is the only thing valuable by itself.

Aristotle regarded virtue as necessary for a person to be happy and held that without virtue the most that may be attained is contentment. Within Aristotelian ethics, achieving virtue involves asking the question "how should I be" rather than "what should I do". A fully virtuous person is described as achieving eudaimonia, and therefore would be undeniably happy.Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/aristotle-ethics/>

Cynics

Antisthenes (c. 445 – c. 365 BCE), often regarded as the founder of Cynicism, advocated an ascetic life lived in accordance with virtue. Xenophon testifies that Antisthenes had praised the joy that sprang "from out of one's soul,"Xenophon, Symposium, iv. 41. and Diogenes Laërtius relates that Antisthenes was fond of saying: "I would rather go mad than feel pleasure."Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, vi. 3 He maintained that virtue was sufficient in itself to ensure happiness, only needing the strength of a Socrates.

He, along with all following Cynics, rejected any conventional notions of happiness involving money, power, and fame, to lead entirely virtuous, and thus happy, lives.Cynics – The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Thus, happiness can be gained through rigorous training (askesis, Greek: ἄσκησις) and by living in a way which was natural for humans, rejecting all conventional desires, preferring a simple life free from all possessions.

Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412 – c. 323 BCE) is most frequently seen as the perfect embodiment of the philosophy. The Stoics themselves saw him as one of the few, if not only, who have had achieved the state of sage.

Cyrenaics

The Cyrenaics were a school of philosophy established by Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435 – c. 356 BCE). The school asserted that the only good is positive pleasure, and pain is the only evil. They posit that all feeling is momentary so all past and future pleasure have no real existence for an individual, and that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind. Claudius Aelianus, in his Historical Miscellany,Aelian, Historical Miscellany 14.6 writes about Aristippus:

Some immediate pleasures can create more than their equivalent of pain. The wise person should be in control of pleasures rather than be enslaved to them, otherwise pain will result, and this requires judgement to evaluate the different pleasures of life.

Pyrrho

Pyrrho (c. 360 – c. 270 BCE) founded Pyrrhonism, the first Western school of philosophical skepticism. The goal of Pyrrhonist practice is to attain the state of ataraxia (ataraxia, Greek: ἀταραξία) – freedom from perturbation. Pyrrho identified that what prevented people from attaining ataraxia was their beliefs in non-evident matters, i.e., holding dogmas. To free people from belief the ancient Pyrrhonists developed a variety of skeptical arguments.

Epicurus

Epicurus (c. 341 – c. 270 BCE), the founder of Epicureanism, taught that the aim of life was to attain a state of tranquility (ataraxia, Greek: ἀταραξία) and freedom from fear, as well as absence of bodily pain (aponia, Greek: ἀπονία). Toward these ends, Epicurus recommended an ascetic lifestyle, noble friendship, and the avoidance of politics.

One aid to achieving happiness is the tetrapharmakos or the four-fold cure:

"Do not fear god, Do not worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure." (Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus, 1005, 4.9–14).

Stoics

Stoicism was a school of philosophy established by Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BCE). While Zeno was syncretic in thought, his primary influence were the Cynics, with Crates of Thebes (c. 365 – c. 285 BCE) as his mentor. Stoicism is a philosophy of personal ethics that provides a system of logic and views about the natural world.Sharpe, Matthew. "Stoic Virtue Ethics." Handbook of Virtue Ethics, 2013, 28–41.

Modern use of the term "stoic" typically refers not to followers of Stoicism, but to individuals who feel indifferent to experiences of the world, or represses feelings in general."Modern Stoicism | Build The Fire". Build The Fire. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016. Given Stoicism's emphasis on feeling indifferent to negativity, it is seen as a path to achieving happiness.Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary – Stoic". Retrieved 2 September 2006.

Stoics believe that "virtue is sufficient for happiness".Stoicism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. One who has attained this sense of virtue would become a sage. In the words of Epictetus, this sage would be "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy."Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy

The Stoics therefore spent their time trying to attain virtue. This would only be achieved if one was to dedicate their life studying Stoic logic, Stoic physics, and Stoic ethics. Stoics describe themselves as "living in agreement with nature." Certain schools of Stoicism refer to Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia as the goal of practicing Stoic philosophy.

Ancient Rome

School of the Sextii

The School of the Sextii was founded by Quintus Sextius the Elder (fl. 50 BCE). It characterized itself mainly as a philosophical-medical school, blending Pythagorean, Platonic, Cynic, and Stoic elements together. They argued that to achieve happiness, one ought to be vegetarian, have nightly examinations of conscience, and avoid both consumerism and politics,Emily Wilson, The Greatest Empire: A Life of Seneca. Oxford University Press, 2014. p.54-55 and believe that an elusive incorporeal power pervades the body.

Augustine of Hippo

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD) was an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy.

For St. Augustine, all human actions revolve around love, and the primary problem humans face is the misplacing of love.https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ethics-everyone/201106/achieving-hapGenesis creation narrativepiness-advice-augustine Only in God can one find happiness, as He is source of happiness. Since humanity was brought forth from God, but has since fallen, one's soul dimly remembers the happiness from when one was with God. Thus, if one orients themselves toward the love of God, all other loves will become properly ordered. In this manner, St. Augustine follows the Neoplatonic tradition in asserting that happiness lays in the contemplation of the purely intelligible realm.

St. Augustine deals with the concept of happiness directly in his treatises De beata vita and Contra Academicos.

Boethius

Boethius (c. 480–524 AD) was a philosopher, most famous for writing The Consolation of Philosophy. The work has been described as having had the single most important influence on the Christianity of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance and as the last great work of the Classical Period.Introduction to The Consolation of Philosophy, Oxford World's Classics, 2000. The book describes many themes, but among them he discusses how happiness can be attainable despite changing fortune, while considering the nature of happiness and God.

He posits that happiness is acquired by attaining the perfect good, and that perfect good is God. He then concludes that as God ruled the universe through Love, prayer to God and the application of Love would lead to true happiness.Sanderson Beck (1996).

Middle Ages

Avicenna

Avicenna (c. 980–1037), also known as 'Ibn-Sina', was a polymath and jurist; he is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers in the Islamic Golden Age. According to him, happiness is the aim of humans, and that real happiness is pure and free from worldly interest. Ultimately, happiness is reached through the conjunction of the human intellect with the separate active intellect.

Al-Ghazali

Al-Ghazali (c. 1058–1111) was a Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic of Persian descent. Produced near the end of his life, al-Ghazali wrote The Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya-yi Sa'ādat, (). In the work, he emphasizes the importance of observing the ritual requirements of Islam, the actions that would lead to salvation, and the avoidance of sin. According to Al-Ghazali, there are four main constituents of happiness: self-knowledge, knowledge of God, knowledge of this world as it really is, and the knowledge of the next world as it really is. Only by exercising the human faculty of reason – a God-given ability – can one transform the soul from worldliness to complete devotion to God, the ultimate happiness.

Maimonides Maimonides (c. 1135–1204) was a Jewish philosopher and astronomer,Maimonides: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā [Moses] ibn ʿUbayd Allāh [Maymūn] al-Qurṭubī who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians.A Biographical and Historiographical Critique of Moses Maimonides He writes that happiness is ultimately and essentially intellectual.

Thomas Aquinas