We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Jefferson wrote those memorable words in the declaration of the 13 United States of America. This disquisition focuses on the pursuit of happiness while not addressing a Creator.
Thomas Jefferson was obviously knowledgeable about Greek philosophy. Turning to the Greeks, Aristippus, a pupil of Socrates, 400 years before Christ, taught that through experience was the optimum of bodily pleasure. Pleasure is the goal of life and happiness is the sum total of pleasure enjoyed. Thus,Aristippus was a hedonist for whom the existence of a desire was the basis for the right to satisfy it and to realize that pleasure was the goal of life . Note , one synonym for happiness is pleasure. On the other hand, another Greek philosopher Epicurus believed that "pure" pleasure is the highest goal. For him, however, pleasure meant the absence of pain. According to this philosopher, pleasure was satisfaction of the desire but cannot be the aim of life because such pleasure is necessarily followed by unpleasantness and this keeps humanity away from its real goal, which is absence of pain.
Jefferson leaned on the philosophy of Aristippus and not at all on the philosophy of Epicurus. Jefferson believed in hedonism for the white acquisition wealthy landowners with their private property slaves like his history with Sally Hemmings suggests with whom he had children outside of marriage. In fact English philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote that the fulfillment of every desire, results in happiness as it's a continuous progress from one grade to another.
With the development of production and technology, capitalism has flourished and become the dominant economic, political and social philosophy and practice in our country. A few illusions related to capitalism follows: 1. Does material abundance, wealth, profit and unlimited consumption result in happiness or being fettered with envy ,jealousy , failure, resentment , anxiety, anger and aggression ? 2. Has the computer with social media replaced thinking , learning, objectivity , reason and rationality for lies, misinformation and crazy beliefs ? 3. Has everyone secured freedom within their lives or have they become slaves to wealthy masters of industry ?
A few facts : 1. Unrestricted satisfaction of all desires is not conducive to well-being, happiness or even to maximum pleasure. 2. Our thoughts, feelings, and taste have been manipulated by the government and industry within mass communications in control 3. Economic progress is basically restricted for the rich individuals, and the gap between the rich and poor individuals has widened 4. Technical progress has created ecological dangers of climate change as well as the dangers of nuclear war which may either or both put an end to all civilization and possibly life.
In the capitalistic model, having means to acquire, possess and to pursue greed, power, property and profit which becomes life's meaning and the current god to worship. If one has nothing, one is nothing. I am what I have and what I consume as having cars ,electronic devices, travel and sex, which we are told brings about pleasure and happiness. . Pleasure is supposed to be equated with happiness. Pleasure and happiness are emotions short-lived. In other words, happiness can occur frequently but without staying power , it is fleeting and not at all like a mood. Don Juan had many sexual conquests and experienced pleasure. while seducing various women. This fictitious character, In the end, finds himself caught in an unbreakable grip with the statue that fills him with freezing cold while a fiery pit opens and drags Don Juan off to hell. The moral of the story is that sexual hedonism is followed by supernatural punishment or don’t f..k around.
Sexual hedonism becomes self-defeating in the end. , Maslow's theory of self-actualization incorporates sexual gratification as one aspect but not the sole motivator for man .Hedonism suggests egotism, which is a significant condition of the capitalistic model. Egotism suggests narcissism and being self absorbed. Self absorption is not conducive to interpersonal relationships except for Don Juan ? Just think of the importance of competition ,rivalry dominance and being first in the marketplace. Corporations have been bailed out at times by the government for being too big to fail. Corporations maximize profit at the exclusion of people. Corporations are not people. In the old days, Sears had a wonderful company for employment. Most employees benefited and retired . Things changed for that wonderful company and Sears is no longer the market force as their employees became expendable during its decline.
We are an uncontrolled consumer consumption, economic system. For capitalism to prosper, individuals have to buy, consume and buy. We have become a consumer personality. Look in garages, landfills and ocean pollution at the accumulation of things. Useless things are replaced by other useless things. The propaganda of the capitalist advertising industry tells us to buy the dream house and the person with the most toys wins, etc. Has all this purchasing, and consumption resulted in long-term happiness ? Has working long hours, pursuing that prize job, resulted in long-term happiness? Has a college degree or attending an ivy league university resulted in happiness? Has buying a dream home resulted in long-term happiness? Has winning the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA championship resulted in long-term happiness? We are supposed to be the wealthiest country on the planet and does that mean we are the happiest of people?
A few facts follow : 1. In 2020 Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Iceland are the top four ranking countries for happiness. The United States now ranks 16th , in the world , behind Ireland, Germany ,Canada and others. According to Sutter Health, about 133 million people in our country, almost half the population in our country have a long-term illness such as asthma, diabetes, and coronary disease( one alcoholic drink per day is associated with a 16 % increased risk of AFIB ) . Do not forget about obesity; homeless (they are poor , dirty, lazy and amoral individuals); gun ownership and income Inequality .
Soren Kierkegaard said that "most people rush after pleasure so fast that they rush right past it. It should be clear by now that capitalism benefits a few as the capitalistic dominated political party supports restricted government spending, against the $15 minimum wage and supports tax relief for the wealthy. It's clear that hedonism means exploiting the majority with discriminatory policies and procedures. The survival of the fittest is actually an economic model or philosophy
In any event, pursuit of happiness( money, yachts, planes, cars, drugs, food, alcohol, guns, jewelry etc.) provides temporary pleasure . It's destructive, exploitative, narcissistic and associated with amoral tendencies of lying,cheating, and stealing to protect hoarding and possessing. Yes, Musk and Bezos can fly 50 miles above Earth in their pursuit of happiness. What’s next for them because previous consumptions are just that as they lose their satisfaction .
Specifically applying greed or the egotism of greed to Musk refers not just to his behavior, but to his character. A few illustrations follow: 1. He wants everything for himself. 2. It's about him possessing not sharing that gives him pleasure. 3. His aim is having, he believes that he is more, the more he has. 4. He feels antagonistic toward others as he can deceive his competitors, whom he wants to destroy; the workers that he exploits 5. He can never be satisfied because there is no end to his wishes 6. He has to repress these feelings in order to represent himself to others and himself as a smiling, rational, sincere, and pleasant human being which is his persona, a pretend mask. Note, being in the having mode suggests an emotional deficit for him. This deficit could be a loss of love, admiration, and/or respect. Emotional deficits are associated with danger or anxiety to the ego with its limited amount of psychic energy for personality functions. The ego has ways of dealing with dangerous anxiety. It can create self talk or internal dialogue in an attempt to mitigate the danger. Examples could be: 1. I'm entitled 2. I deserve this. 3. I can afford to buy Twitter . 4. This will give me more status , prestige, and place me ahead of Bezos who only owns the Washington Post. Unfortunately, rationalization is a defense mechanism available to the ego, but does not mitigate emotional insecurity and deficits. As a result, anxiety from emotional deficits remains and rationalizations continue irrespective of consumption. But, on the other hand, to purchase, to take over relieves anxiety because what one has cannot be taken away. Can Musk destroy his rationalizations and become aware of his own unconscious reality?
Epicurus was correct, as after pleasure the day-to-day realities return with the repetitiveness of life. A few quotes regarding man and his motivation follows: 1. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor -Seneca 2. He who is not satisfied with the little, is satisfied with nothing-Epicurus 3. Fame and wealth without wisdom are unsafe possessions-Democritus 4. Everything in excess is opposed to nature-Hippocrates These philosophers make their point about how to live. Unfortunately , The Pursuit of Happiness has resulted with a population that is angry, destructive, unhappy, lonely, anxious, depressed, obese, dependent, with long-term mental and physical illness issues.
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Reference
Fromm, Erich. To Have or to Be.
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