Hume, Kant, Mill... we’ve wandered into this neighborhood before in previous discussions, and I confess that I am just as ill-equipped now to discuss them in any depth as I was then. Could you perhaps elaborate a bit here? Though they come at the question from different angles, these men all seem to fundamentally agree with Plato. My impression of Mill is that he draws a direct correlation between morality and happiness. Am I way off base? Hume also seems to draw a correlation between virtue and good feelings, and vice and bad feelings. Even Kant’s very rational morality seems to argue for a moral life as the means by which higher meaning and purpose in life are realized, or perhaps I should say that we accept moral imperatives on faith that there is a higher meaning and purpose in life.
The “philosophies” I cited are all agreed that the path of virtue leads to a fulfilling life and inner peace, while the path of vice leads to misery and disharmony, and none of the more modern philosophers you mentioned seem to dispute this notion at first glance.
We sort of went over Machiavelli in chat, Mho, but I’ll just state for the benefit of others on the thread here that I don’t follow you that Machiavellian immorality can lead to a life of fulfillment and inner peace. The fearfulness of the Machiavellian prince and his feeling that he is justified in using any means to maintain his position is not compatible with true happiness as I understand it. I would reiterate this argument with regards to other sorts of hypothetical situations put forward. Is the hypothetical sociopath who feels no moral qualms truly happy, fulfilled, and at peace? To what degree a person is able to justify or harden their heart against immoral actions isn’t really the question – the question is, what is the result of this sort of lifestyle? Is it better and more fulfilling than a lifestyle spent in the pursuit of virtue? I think not.
I suppose I’m sort of shocked to find so many people willing to argue that a life of amorality can be just as fulfilling and happy as a life of virtue; perhaps it’s simply that words like “morality” and “virtue” have acquired certain ominous and hypocritical connotations and associations in our modern world.
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