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Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by RickS on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @02:55PM (#18242440)
This starts to get very shaky as soon as it gets to the "Happiness" heading.

> Happiness is the psychological condition that results from the achievement of one’s [values](sic).

I'd say that's meaning. Puppy videos give you happiness. They don't give you meaning.

> Values are ends that a person acts to gain and/or keep. They are those things that a person cares about having or doing.

That... what? My values are not my ends or my activities.

These two definitions end with a footnote:

> Both characterizations are from Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness (New York: Signet, 1964) 31, 16.

Without taking a stance on Rand, is that really the foremost place to find a definition of happiness and value? This strikes me as intellectually dishonest to the point of silliness.

Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by pdpi on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @03:37PM (#18242929)
> of one’s [values](sic).

Just a small thing — you either correct it ("[values]") or you note that the error is present in the original ("vales(sic)"). Doing both doesn't quite make sense.

Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by fegu on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @03:05PM (#18242571)
Puppy videos give us joy. But joy is more fleeting and short-lived than happiness. An analogy could be broke vs poor.
Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by abtinf on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @03:02PM (#18242527)
If you'd like a quick introduction to Rand's complete philosophical system, check out Leonard Peikoff's video "Introduction to Objectivism". It will help clarify a lot of the difficult statements you pointed out.

Starts at around 3:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlJD0i_WwdQ

Edit: With regard to your comment about puppy videos, I'm curious what you thought about this paragraph from the article:

> It is useful to distinguish particular incidents of happiness from a more pervasive condition. While happiness results from the achievement of specific goals, when a person seeks happiness itself, he is after a more global kind of satisfaction with his life—with his daily activities, as he is engaged in them, as well as with what they all add up to, when he steps back to survey the totality. This more encompassing happiness requires knowledge that his time and energy are being spent in worthwhile ways and that he is efficacious in acting for the things that he cares about.

Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by engineeringwoke on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @03:10PM (#18242631)
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Ayn Rand is philosophically meaningless
Re:Money Can Buy Happiness [pdf] by abtinf on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @03:38PM (#18242939)
I'll accept your apology if you share how you came to that conclusion.