Is happyness the absense of sadness, or something more?

Question:Is a big reason why we are happy because we are not sad, or a big reason we are sad is because we are not happy? Any thoughts please.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Is a big reason why we are happy because we are not sad, or a big reason we are sad is because we are not happy? Any thoughts please.

It depends on your definition. If you define "sad" as "not happy" then you're good to go with your analysis by the law of noncontradiction. Sometimes this doesn't work, however. Ever hear the song "I'm Only Happy When It Rains"? Some people get off on sad feelings...meaning the sad feelings have a silver lining of happiness! In this deployment of meaning, the two are not mutually exclusive, but in fact can even augment one another. Conversely, maybe too much contentment without any sadness is complacent and superficial. Based on one level of sheer feeling, I would argue that the two feelings are not so much defined in terms of absence of the other (like cold being the absence of heat, dark being the absence of light), but rather as separate feelings which *usually* don't occur together. For example, you may not be happy, but not particularly sad either...it's more of a continuum. Sadness exists in a positive way in which darkness and cold kind of don't (although they very much exist as concepts of course). You also have to be careful because happiness and sadness as *single* broad concepts are VERY problematic. Platonism is dead! Rather there are probably different experiences of joy, with various chemical source in the brain. Same with sadness. In view of this, one could easily have sad feelings and happy feelings all at once. Nostalgia about a happy thing in the past, I think, is an example of such a complex emotion. You feel sadness over the lost moment and the passage of time, but happy with the memory of the experience.

We might be sad because we're not happy, but we can be not sad and just be numb - which I believe is often the case.

We are happy when the feelings of happiness overwhelm all the other feelings you have at the moment. I don't think there is such a thing as feeling only one emotion at any given time, you just feel one more than the others.

Happiness exists in absence of sadness, true, but it doesn't exist because there is no sadness, and the reverse is true. It is possible to be lacking both in happiness and sadness, and it is possible to be happy and sad at the same time. I've managed to do both on numerous occassions. People, places, things, occurences, events, actions, and ideas are what make us happy or sad, not the absence of either emotion.

happiness is feeling contentment and sadness is feeling dissatisfaction. each wouldn't exist without the other, thus they don't exist only in the absence of one another. i believe emotions are too complex to generalize since sadness can be uplifting and happiness can be heartbreaking.

also, in my personal opinion, sadness is often beneficial and can show signs of maturity, while too much happiness can show signs of ignorance.

in some kind of attempt to generalize emotions, i would say that any number of feelings can be simultaneously intact, but that one sometimes overrides the others. so it depends on an individual and their given situations. they can feel happy and sad about two different situations, but it depends on which situation they consider to be more important on how it dictates their overall mood.

Of course happiness is the absence of sadness.

We live in dualism :
happiness --- sadness
light ---- dark
day --- night
good --- bad

Yin --- Yang

If you eliminate one of them you eliminate the other.

Happiness is a replete feeling, of satisfaction, of being overwhelmingly contented.

Contentment comes to humans in various ways. One might be contented with food. Or a nice house. With everyone you love around you,

Others after a period of entertainment, of material gifts, of the receipt of money.

Whatever drives you to contentment, I wish you that.

It is my belief that it differs person to person..think about someone with an evil inner core; they could find please, happying, if you will, out of something so incredibly sad. Whereas, some of us dont find sad situations pleasing in the least, we dont take pride in others' misery, but rather empathize.

In my case; it is generally one or the other. But i know people who can be both happy and sad at the same time.