Module 2: Paradoxes of happiness
  Lecture 3: Paradoxes of Happiness
 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISE

  • Is it true that people want to be happy? Why do they want to be happy?

  • What are the major aspects of happiness?

  • Is there a difference between well-being and happiness?

  • Interview a few people in a government office. Ask: “Try to recollect some moments in the office when you felt most happy or most unhappy and answer what made you happy or unhappy? Would all the workers in your office feel the same way in those situations?”

  • Can happiness lead to unhappiness in the long run? Give an example of how some acts which produce happiness in the short term can produce unhappiness in the long term.

  • What kinds of people are expected to be happy in India?

  • Is there any difference in sources of happiness between men and women? Are means of happiness equally available to both?

  • What are Gellner’s concepts of In and Out justifications?

  • Discuss a few dilemmas of happiness.

  • Comment on the following: “Happiness may lie in affirming what we have rather than pursuing what we do not have. Change of attitude from wanting to have what one does not have to feeling happy about what one has can make the person happy".