To be happy is to look for more of spiritual or inner qualities. Sen (1977) questions the foundation of the first principle of consumer economics that man is rational, egoist and governed by self-interest only. To him, man is known for having sympathy for others and for not being unwilling to work in the interest of others. He has families, friends, communities, peer groups, and he belongs to social and economic classes. He feels responsibility towards them; he feels a moral obligation towards them and wants to act conscientiously. In addition, it must be understood that the material goods are important and a minimum value of them is needed for survival and happy life but our need for them is limited. Beyond a limit further extension of them can even cause unhappiness. Yet, we can have unlimited love, peace, compassion and devotion to human cause. Unfortunately the modern man has a hankering for material wants only. In the interest of both individual and society this hankering has to change. He has to put a limit to material wants and look for unlimited non-material needs inherent to all humans such as recognition, love and mutual respect. We will have more opportunity to explore this issue in discussion of values in future lectures.
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