Critique on Article “The Ends of Happiness” Essay

Dr Karl Giberson is a professor at east Naz atomic number 18ne College with a PHD in Physics from Rice University. A part approaching his fifties at the writing of this article, Gibersons solution to his mid-life crisis was to compile an article The Ends of Happiness. His article was well written and he tries to collapse his experiences with felicitousness to young adults. In the article, Giberson claims that pleasure should be the end government issue of our efforts and he provides a compelling argument why we should non masturbate caught up in our pursuit of happiness by materialistic gains. However, his arguments to cover charge his thesis are inadequate due to an inherent contradiction in his supporting point and one unproven assumption in his article.Giberson (2006) uses the sweeten Experiment with children to prove his point that our ability to withhold satisfaction leads to a life age of happiness (para. 5). He further explains that unpleasant means can yield sat isfying ends (2006). This implies that our happiness will increase if we are able to set aside the things that make us happy, and work towards our goal. However, in his later argument, the author seems to imply that the happiest moments in his life, were times when he did not work towards materialistic gains.For instance, he claims he lived well, when he leave work early and spent his time with his family (Giberson, 2006, para.12, 13 & 14). This illustrates his point that the closely memorable moments in life comes from relationships as opposed to material gains (Giberson, 2006). sequence the latter argument supports his thesis, the former contradicts it by implying that happiness is something to be achieved through materialistic gains. This is shown in Gibersons example about a educatee graduating with greater earning power (2006) and how this ability is the formula for a lifetime of happiness (Giberson, 2006, para. 5).Furthermore, Gibersons argument seems to be contingent on o ne study assumption. That happiness gained from acquiring things, is less meaningful than happiness gained from spending time with family and friends. To illustrate his point, he cites evidence from his own memories. He states that memories gained from family time are clearer than the memories of buying his first car and cashing his first paycheck (Giberson, 2006, para.14). Giberson then applies this bankers bill of reasoning to back his thesis by showing us how happiness from material gains alone reduces our overall happiness as our social interactions moderate (Giberson, 2006). However, such opinionated evidence provides weak support to his thesis and regular though he did not plan on writing a scientific article, using personal memories to validate such a study assumption weakens his argument substantially.In conclusion, Giberson has indeed written a well-structured newspaper column with many coherent and interesting points. However, contradicting arguments and one unsuppor ted assumption in the article has undermined his thesis and weakened his argument. Gibersons thesis would have fared lots better had he quoted from valid sources instead of his own personal experiences. writeGiberson, K. (2006, Mar. Apr.). The Ends Of Happiness. Science & Spirit, 17, 6-7.