In the opening paragraph, Bertrand Russell says, "The happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the good life?" What does he mean? Is this statement paradoxical?
The word "Happy" means a feeling of pleasure or contentment , the word "Good" means to have an desire or be approved of. It can been seen how these two relate to each other, on the contrary, Bertrand's opening can be translated as "The pleasurable life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the desired life".Basically stating how if individual is happy in his or her life, to that person it is a good life or good for them.If a person is not satisfied with there life, for example if it is filled with riches, jewels and gifts, fame , fortune the "works", it does not mean the person is happy, so Bertrand would not inflict that they have a good life. Russell's point of view , implies if "happy" then to a certain extent you have the "good life" but if literally speaking most people agree the "good life" consists of materialistic things , big house, cars , fame and not as some who believe if not living largely to an extent you can be "happy". No Russell's statement is not Paradoxical, it depends on who is the reader and how he interprets it , the statement is true if your happy you may have maybe not fully but a portion of the good life, good life can mean its enjoyable so to certain extent you can be happy.
What does Russell mean by his claim that "the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world...disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves" (¶2)?
Humans themselves are selfish, and without realizing that, he is stating that even doing good for someone or having an interest in doing good for someone it's through our own personal interest.True, a human wants to help the poor and donate to charity, even if your helping that cause or person, that self satisfaction is from of being selfish this is not a bad thing but Russell is displaying the truth that once you want to do something for someone or in their interest it is for your own personal gain and interest.
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