Understanding of happiness in philosophy

The question of what happiness is and what it means to be happy, have long been worried about the man. "Man is created for happiness like a bird for flight". This well-known saying of the winged folk wisdom "has recorded the fact that happiness refers to the deep sides of the human existence, by its very nature. And that is why the concept of happiness must Express a certain cut of the moral life of man." (L. A. Popov Ethics. A course of lectures. - M., 1998. - P. 77).

The understanding of the essence of the consciousness of happiness not only prevents the complexity of the phenomenon of human spiritual life, but also the fact that the word "happiness" is used in everyday life in various ways. The concept of happiness for each person individually. "One happiness seems to be virtue, to others prudence, the third - known wisdom, but otherwise it all together or something one in connection with pleasure or not without pleasure, there are those that include the concept of external happiness and welfare".(Aristotle. Vol. in 4 vols. Vol. 4. - M., 1984. - P. 66).

Listing various people's opinions about happiness, we can say that for most people happiness is something visual and obvious: the luck, the pleasure, honor, wealth, etc. "Happiness, we say, is the same thing that the well-being and the good life". (Aristotle. Vol. in 4 vols. Vol. 4. - M., 1984. - S. 302). Therefore, "the question of happiness is not just a question of how to be lucky, happy or even virtuous, but above all, what is a good happy life and what man ought to strive in the first place." (Guseinov A. A., Apresyan R. G. Ethics. - M., 1998. - S. 295).

There is a definition of happiness as "moral consciousness, which refers to the human condition, which corresponds to the greatest inner satisfaction with the conditions of its existence, completeness and meaningfulness of life, to implement its human destination. As the dream, happiness is sensual-emotional ideal form, but unlike it means not the striving of the individual, and execution of these aspirations. The concept of happiness is not just characterizes certain specific position or subjective state of the person but also expresses the idea of what should be all life that is bliss. Depending on how interpreted the purpose and meaning of human life, and is content with happiness. So this concept is still normative and value nature." (The dictionary on ethics. Ed. by I. S. Kon., 1975. - S. 303).