An Analytical Study Of The Art Of Happiness (Eudaimonia) İn Stoic School Of Philosophy

Abstract

This research is documentary research with three objectives: 1) to observe the general concepts of happiness, 2) to examine the theoretical and practical ways of Stoic’s happiness (Eudaimonia), and 3) to analyze the practical ways for approaching Stoic’s happiness (Eudaimonia) to the daily life. Its methodology is to collect the documentary information from primary sources authorized by the well-known philosophers belonging to Stoic school of philosophy, i.e., Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Lucius Annaeus Seneca and from secondary sources that are books, journals, etc. authorized by various academicians on religious and philosophical circumstances; then, reasonably analyzes the concepts and practical ways to approach Stoic’s happiness (Eudaimonia) that can be applied to the daily. The result of this research was found that 1) Happiness is widely said in both religious and philosophical circumstances with different contexts. In the religious circumstance, each religion purposes various sources of happiness depending on different beliefs and contexts of them. So, the practical ways to approach happiness are quite different. However, each religion classifies mainly happiness into twofold type: (1) Worldly happiness based on physical things such as wealth, healthy, materials, etc.; (2) Supreme happiness based on mental training or strong faith in God. In the philosophical circumstances, it emphasizes on psychotically happiness, well-being, or good life.  2) The concept of happiness (eudaimonia) of Stoic school of philosophy is derived from Aristo Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Epicurean. Zeno defined the term “Eudaimonia” as euroia biou “the good flowing of life” or supreme happiness. To achieve this happiness (eudaimonia), people have to live life in agreement with the nature thereby cultivating virtues available in one’s own innate potentiality that are wisdom, justice, courage, and self-discipline and complying with three disciplines that are disciplines of desire related to accept faith and fate; disciplines of action related to love of mankind or philanthropy; and disciplines of assent concerning with mindfulness and how to judge things. 3) The practical ways to approach happiness (eudaimonia) in daily life, regarding Stoic school of philosophy, can be critically concluded in three ways: (1) Motivating virtues (areté) available in human nature; (2) focusing on what to control found in human behaviors, i.e., good and bad things; (3) considerably taking responsibility on reaction of what happens rationally. If those who have already motivated the virtues (areté) can succeed in the second and the third as consequence.