--- title: Feeling Happy: A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness in Life description: There is and never will be a perfect recipe for happiness canonical: https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T11:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:34:05.657Z article:section: Ideas og:title: A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness og:description: There is and never will be a perfect recipe for happiness og:url: https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1677e7c9ca3c820c/69885988f887dc838ae91380/person-jumping-building-top.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: person-jumping-building-top og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness twitter:description: There is and never will be a perfect recipe for happiness twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1677e7c9ca3c820c/69885988f887dc838ae91380/person-jumping-building-top.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness ## Video: Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement [Watch (HLS stream): Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DNE2aJxk.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2015-02-18. Studies show that a healthy and active sex life is one way to ensure a happy retirement._ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 8, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Rear view of woman jumping against cityscape Rear view of woman jumping against cityscapeGetty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 8, 2015 11:00 AM UTC [Happiness: A Philosopher’s Guide](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612194397/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1612194397&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=2BYOWL3TNLER2UNM) is worth reading. Frederic Lenoir explores what the greatest thinkers — Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu, Voltaire, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Kant, and Freud — have to add to the ongoing conversation on happiness. --- > “” --- \*\*\* **On why there is no recipe for happiness**: --- > “” --- Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, shed considerable light on this point when he noted in [Civilization and Its Discontents](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393304515/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393304515&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=B4BAF4222CUYWSF2): --- > “” --- \*\*\* **The origins of the word** --- > “” --- \*\*\* **The philosophical journey and the path to wisdom** --- > “” --- \*\*\* **The intellectual distrust of happiness** The essayist Pascal Bruckner offers another view: “I love life too much to wish to be permanently happy.” Indeed, there is a movement against the pursuit of happiness, which I’ve [discussed before](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/12/the-secret-to-happiness-the-power-of-negative-thinking/). Lenoir, however, adds to this conversation and speaks to a reason for the intellectual mistrust in happiness: vulnerability. --- > “” --- In the end, happiness is a philosophical pursuit. [Happiness: A Philosopher’s Guide](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612194397/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1612194397&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=2BYOWL3TNLER2UNM) is a great place to start your inquiry. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/05/lenoir-happiness-philosophers-guide/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/"},"headline":"A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness","datePublished":"2015-07-08T11:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:34:05.657Z","description":"There is and never will be a perfect recipe for happiness","url":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/","keywords":["Psychology","Life","Happiness","Happy","Mental Health/Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1677e7c9ca3c820c/69885988f887dc838ae91380/person-jumping-building-top.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1677e7c9ca3c820c/69885988f887dc838ae91380/person-jumping-building-top.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"person-jumping-building-top","caption":"person-jumping-building-top","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/","name":"A Philosopher's Guide to Happiness"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement","description":"Studies show that a healthy and active sex life is one way to ensure a happy retirement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DNE2aJxk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-18T15:40:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DNE2aJxk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/","duration":"PT1M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3944883/philosopher-guide-happiness-life/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```