**What If Everything You Know About Happiness Is Wrong?**
We chase success, money, and pleasure—thinking they’ll make us happy. But what if we’re climbing the wrong ladder? Aristotle believed every action has a purpose, but the ultimate goal of life? True happiness. The problem? Most of us don’t even know what that means.
In this eye-opening episode, Jonny Thomson unravels the hidden paths to happiness through ancient wisdom and modern philosophy. He explores why pleasure alone won’t fulfill us, how extreme lifestyles lead to burnout, and why real happiness is impossible without virtue. From the thorny roads of Daoism to the golden rule of kindness, he reveals the three *pillars* that can transform your life.
Are you unknowingly sabotaging your own happiness? Press play and find out.
“If we're to be happy at all, it has to be found outside of this notion of pleasure. We have to step beyond hedonia. But the problem is that we risk going too far.”
Humans have been chasing happiness for thousands of years. But we can't seem to agree on the exact definition of happiness and it's often presented as simply a smiling face on social media. Jonny Thomson, author and our very own staff writer here at Big Think, argues that happiness is less of a smiling face, rather, happiness is a smiling soul. Thomson runs the social media account ‘Mini Philosophy,’ where he distills complex philosophical ideas into bite-sized lessons. So, what can philosophy teach us about happiness? By examining different schools of philosophical thought, we can learn a lot about different ways to create happiness.From Buddhism, Daoism, and ancient Greece to the philosophers of today, Thomson leads us through 2,500 years of happiness philosophy and carves out 3 simple methods that you can use to usher greater happiness into your life.Timestamps: 00:00: What is the end point?01:46: The philosophies of happiness02:31: 3 pillars of happiness03:00: Happiness ≠ pleasure04:40: Moderation05:53: Virtue08:08: Applying the 3 pillars
About Jonny Thomson:Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a columnist at Big Think and is the award-winning, bestselling author of three books that have been translated into 22 languages.Jonny is also the founder of Mini Philosophy, a social network of over half a million curious, intelligent minds. He's known all over the world for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and fun.
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