SAT阅读材料:Human Happiness
Human relationships are consistently found to be the most important correlation with human happiness.
A widely publicized study from 2008 in the British Medical Journal reported that happiness in social networks may spread from person to person. Researchers followed nearly 5000 individuals for 20 years in the long-standing Framingham Heart Study and found clusters of happiness and unhappiness that spread up to 3 degrees of separation on average. Happiness tended to spread through close relationships like friends, siblings, spouses, and next-door neighbors, and the researchers reported that happiness spread more consistently than unhappiness through the network. Moreover, the structure of the social network appeared to have an impact on happiness, as people who were very central were significantly more likely to be happy than those on the periphery of the network. Overall, the results suggest that happiness might spread through a population like a virus.
Philosophical views
The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius, who 2300 years ago sought to give advice to the ruthless political leaders of the warring states period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the lesser self and the greater self and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sage-hood. He argued that if we did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing ones vital force with righteous deeds, that force would shrivel up . More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music.
Al-Ghazali the Muslim Sufi thinker wrote the Alchemy of Happiness, a manual of spiritual instruction throughout the Muslim world and widely practiced today.
The Hindu thinker Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, wrote quite exhaustively on the psychological and ontological roots of bliss.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 BCE, Aristotle stated that happiness is the only thing that humans desire for its own sake, unlike riches, honor, health or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy. Note that eudaimonia, the term we translate as happiness, is for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state. Happiness is characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. The happy person is virtuous, meaning they have outstanding abilities and emotional tendencies which allow him or her to fulfill our common human ends. For Aristotle, then, happiness is the virtuous activity of the soul in accordance with reason: happiness is the practice of virtue.
Many ethicists make arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively, based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, advocated the greatest happiness principle as a guide for ethical behavior.
上一篇: SAT阅读假设题型解题技巧
下一篇: SAT阅读考试答题技巧
浙江省东阳中学2017-2018学年高二下学期期中考试英语试卷
2018年06月英语六级作文范文: 科学与世界难题
外语想学地道? 那最好在10岁前开始学!
国内英语资讯: Chinas top legislator meets AU Commission deputy chair, eyeing closer China-Africa coopera
2018年6月英语四级作文范文:人工智能
2018年06月英语六级作文范文:你喜欢健康还是财富
为什么你存不下钱
体坛英语资讯:Former Manchester United manager Ferguson out of intensive care
体坛英语资讯: Neymar reveals World Cup injury fear
人真的会因为心碎而死吗?
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champ Rudisha to skip Shanghai Diamond League meeting
国内英语资讯: Irans FM leaves Tehran for Beijing for talks on nuclear deal
体坛英语资讯:Boca Juniors win Superliga Argentina title
体坛英语资讯: Marseille lose upper hand in Champions League ticket contention
体坛英语资讯: Raptors coach Casey believes he could stay after heartbreaking loss to Cavs
2018年06月英语六级作文范文:如何交朋友
梅根入英国国籍前,必须要会的12道题,你都会吗?
即使是少量运动,也能带来幸福感
Wave, current and tide 三个表示“浪潮”的词语
Writing A Letter 写信