Getting What You Ideally Desire Is Enough to Make Your Life Good (Essay Sample)

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Getting What You Ideally Desire Is Enough to Make Your Life Good Everybody possesses a unique and memorable way of defining happiness, linking it with their individual development in life. We all assign distinct meanings to delight as a concept. While some may draw happiness in their romantic relationships, others, on the other hand, may find wealth, fame, health, and life enough to make them happy. Nevertheless, people have different measures of happiness at separate stages of their lives. Ultimately, it happens that an individual today to experience pleasure may endeavor to find love and build a family. At the same time, the next day, the same person would be worried about a job and making wealth, and after some time, the meaning of happiness may change to seeking health. Therefore, everyone defines happiness uniquely; this is the universal blueprint for true happiness. Happiness is not the only constituent in this life that directly makes us better. Shafer-Landau articulates that people who seek happiness as their only meaning in life and fixate all their energy on achieving it, in the long run, get disappointed (32). Consequently, directly aiming for happiness is not the best approach to achieving it. In other words, finding purposeful activities enhances one’s ability to find satisfaction and fulfillment in their life. A life of service to others is the epitome of finding pleasure and sustainable joy in life. A meaningful life is the basis of happiness and legit success. According to Susan Wolf, meaning to live emerges when subjective attraction converges with objective elegance (57). Wolf asserts that a critical component of a good life is meaning: only by engaging in interests that we are passionate about and which give us fulfillment can we be truly happy. This is what Wolf means by subjective attraction meeting objective attractiveness. A subjective attraction to objective things like friendship, virtue, pleasure, freedom, and knowledge leads to a meaningful and happy life. As a result, in a world where some things are more important than others, meaning emerges when discovering a subject for one or several of the most beneficial aspects makes us apply the opportunity in it positively. Therefore, meaning and happiness are inseparable aspects of a good life since one can have a meaningful life but be unhappy and vice versa. A good life consists in finding happiness in meaningful activities. The subjective vs. objective theories of welfare try to distinguish what things make our lives better. Subjectivists believe that only those things we want or have some interest in are capable of making our lives better. On the other hand, objectivists believe that only those things that are intrinsically good are worth pursuing, even if we don’t like or care about them. The thesis of this essay is: the revised subjectivist perspective that those things we ideally desire improve our lives is an accurate account of what makes life good. This essay will defend the thesis by responding to some of the objections raised by Shafer-Landau and Wolf using Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” The larger implications of this claim relate to the age-old question of what we should aspire to or how we ought to live: the essay will clarify the question by providing arguments for what a good life consists of. Objectivists present a handful of intrinsically valuable things that are supposed to improve our lives. They believe that irrespective of people’s feelings towards friendship, virtue, pleasure, freedom, or knowledge, these things enhance our lives and that we should have more (Shafer-Landau, pg. 103). However, subjectivists hold that having an interest in these intrinsically beneficial things is more important than their inherent value. Subjectivists refute that what directly contributes to a good life is fixed, independent of our desires or opinions. Although friendship, virtue, pleasure, freedom, and knowledge are intrinsically valuable, they cannot improve a person’s life if the individual has no attraction or interest in them. If a person does not care for friendship, it is unlikely that having more friends will improve their life. Although these intrinsically valuable things improve a person’s life, they may not necessarily result in any direct benefit for the individual. Heathwood gives the example of a bystander who saves a child in a flash flood but loses their life. Although the virtuous action benefited the child, the doer did not benefit from it. Unless a person feels an attraction for a supposedly objective good, it is unlikely that they will appreciate it or derive any good from it. The things we want and are glad to have in our lives are what make our lives better and not their instrumental value. However, it is also possible that the things we want are based on ignorance and may not improve our lives. For instance, the desire to smoke does not benefit the individual, even if the desire theory of welfare suggests that it is in their interest to smoke. Those things we are interested in or desire may not continually improve our lives. Immoral or ignorant desires are unlikely to result in meaningful benefits (Shafer-Landau, pg. 34). Conversely, rational desires in the person’s interest are likely to improve their lives. Although the revised subjectivist perspective appears to abandon the central ideas of subjectivism, people with full knowledge of what is possible for them tend to have idealized desires. A fully informed and rational individual will forego smoking since they understand the risks. The person is likely to desire to quit, and this idealization will improve their life. The quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever,” supports my revised subjectivist perspective. Gandhi encourages people to pursue those things they desire and make the most of their finite lives. People should live with a sense of urgency and enjoy everything life offers. Gandhi believes in living in the present and taking advantage of every learning opportunity. To learn as if one were to live forever is to make it a life-long endeavor. People should acquire as much knowledge as they can to improve themselves. There are two critical messages in Gandhi’s quote: do not postpone life-enriching experiences and make knowledge a life-long dream. Both themes support the revised subjectivist perspective that those things we ideally desire improve our lives. Gandhi recognizes that what we want makes our lives worthwhile. However, desires based on ignorance are unlikely to improve our lives. It is the reason he recommends knowledge as a necessary life-long endeavor. Although people should pursue those projects they are attracted to, their desires must be founded on knowledge or rationale. On the other hand, Wolf offers a contrary opinion by suggesting that getting what you want or idealize is not enough to make your life good. Instead, a good life consists of those things that are meaningful. Wolf defines a meaningful life as that lived by a person who finds fulfillment from engagement in objectively worthwhile activities. She supports subjective and objective welfare theories by asserting that a meaningful life is where “subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness” (Shafer-Landau, pg. 53). One can live a meaningful life and find no pleasure in it. Similarly, one can derive satisfaction from worthless activities. In both scenarios, the person’s life is meaningless. Although the author does not deny that desire adds value to a person’s life, she denies that it is the only element of a good life. Overall, Wolf argues that a good life is getting things of genuine value you desire. I’m afraid I have to disagree with this line of thinking since it diminishes the importance of self-interest, a central idea in the revised subjectivist perspective. Wolf considers a meaningful life as active engagement in projects of worth. She acknowledges that people may live a good life by serving their self-interest. However, she leans towards social activities that add value to other people’s lives. Wolf asserts that ongoing involvements with friends, family, and community are intrinsically more meaningful than self-interest activities (Shafer-Landau, pg. 54). Although self-interest isn’t the only thing of importance in ...