Be Happy

In Chapter 2 on Jon Stuart Mills "Utilitarianism", he says that some objectors to his points may think that life can do without happiness, and that it is not necessary at all. I agree with the author's stance in this argument. I strongly believe that some of the meaning of life revolves around individual and collective happiness. 

In addition to the author's points, I would add that happiness is important because it serves as one of the many goals we have in life, to keep Life itself going. While it is perfectly possible to live life without happiness, it defeats the purpose of life itself because there is no obvious reason to be living, and we would all be passing time away just because we were inexplicably brought into this world. While happiness is not the answer to the meaning of life, it gives us some purpose to continue to stay in it.

Happiness, I feel, because it comes from within each individual, is an incentive or encouragement for each individual to continue living and for some, to continue to want to contribute to the world, so that Life does not ever come to an end. I would equate this to human nature’s natural need to engage with and be attracted to the opposite sex as it is largely because the world needs to continue to be populated.

Because of this, it is morally the right thing to do to be happy or want to be happy. In the event that some people physically cannot be happy (as a result of calamities and such) an objector might say use this as evidence that happiness is not achievable by everyone, therefore it cannot be a reason for life to continue. I, however feel that, in this case, it is more life’s way of controlling the population and serving as a reminder to some of the importance and privileges of being happy.  To keep in line with utilitarianism, the larger the number of people who are happy, the greater the good it does for life.