1. View of happiness
The concept of happiness refers to people's fundamental views and attitudes towards happiness. The special expression of outlook on life on happiness is an important part of outlook on life. People's values and life goals are different, so they have different views on happiness. People's concept of happiness was influenced by certain times and social conditions at that time, and it also had a certain class brand of class society.
In the history of ethics, thinkers of different schools have different views on the relationship between happiness and morality, the specific content of happiness and the ways to realize happiness. Some idealist philosophers oppose morality and happiness, or think that happiness lies in the ideal of heaven, or that it is immoral to pursue "material desire", thus advocating asceticism.
The happiness view of religious morality requires people to forget the pain of reality and pursue the ideal of heaven and earth. In China, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties believed that people's pursuit of material happiness was evil "human desire", which was incompatible with "righteousness" and advocated "preserving righteousness and destroying human desire".
All these views of happiness, which oppose the pursuit of secular happiness, require the working people to succumb to the injustice of the real society and give up pursuing their due interests in practice. The old materialist thinkers affirmed the moral significance of people's pursuit of happiness, and even equated happiness with morality, thinking that "happiness is virtue".
2. Rationalism
Rationalism is a great tradition in the history of western thought, represented by Socrates, Plato and Scott School in ancient times and Descartes, Kant and Hegel in modern times.
The essence of these people's happiness view is that people's happiness can only be realized under the guidance of rationality, emphasizing people's spiritual happiness and rational ability, advocating restraining desire and pursuing moral perfection. This is similar to Confucian moral happiness.
Heraclitus has a famous saying: "If happiness lies in physical pleasure, then it should be said that cows are happy when they find forage to eat." Socrates has an equation about happiness, that is, reason = virtue = happiness.
Spinoza believes that happiness is only virtue itself. Kant believes that the difference between human beings and animals is not perceptual desire, but rationality, but rationality can never be used as a tool to meet perceptual needs. Rationality has a higher purpose, that is, to examine whether the motivation of behavior is good or evil, and to emphasize that it is motivation rather than effect that determines the good or evil of behavior.
He believes that happiness exists in the best places. Rationalism emphasizes the role of reason, belittles the role of sensibility and emotion, and advocates restraining desire and pursuing moral perfection or spiritual happiness.
They believe that the purpose and happiness of life lies in following the orders of reason, while the enjoyment and happiness of the senses will only defile reason and waste life. Rationalists have two views on happiness: one is the theory of harmony represented by Plato and Aristotle, and the other is the asceticism represented by cynicism and stoicism.