Amy's Winehouse Part I - A Philosophical Understanding

We mourn the death of Amy Winehouse.

Insodoing, it gives us the opportunity and ideal platform in which to discuss psychology and philosophy. Nowhere better do these fields converge on the concepts of fight or flight, avoidance, hedonism and Buddhism. Seemingly strange bed partners until you grasp the underlying concepts. Let's start with philosophy.

Hedonic happiness occurs when one is primarily seeking pleasant feelings and avoiding unpleasant ones, while eudemonic happiness is conceptualized more in terms of optimal functioning.  Eudemonia can be described as the striving for perfection that represents the realization of one's true potential. These two views of happiness illustrate two traditions whose philosophic roots are significantly divergent.

While in hedonistic philosophy the aim of life is to maximize pleasure (Aristippus, Bentham, DeSade, Hobbes) other philosophers and religious thinkers do not agree with this conception. Atistotle, for example, considers hedonic happiness as vulgar insofar as it condemns man to be a slave of his desires. According to the stoic Epictetus, happiness does not involve enjoying pleasures, but rather occurs when one is free from desires.

The Buddhists use the term sukha to qualify authentic happiness, and this term closely resembles eudemonic happiness. Sukha can be defined as a state of flourishing that arises from mental balance and insight into the nature of reality. Rather than a fleeting thought or emotion, aroused by internal or external triggers, sukha is an enduring trait that arises from a state of mental balance and entails a conceptually unstructured and unfiltered awareness of the true nature of reality.

In terms of Amy Winehouse's descent and self-inflicted demise, we can view her behavioral process through the lens of these two distinct psychological states. By trying to maximize pleasure and avoid displeasure, the hedonic approach induces a fluctuating happiness in which phases of pleasure and displeasure alternate repeatedly.

The experience of pleasure is by nature fleeting and dependent upon circumstances - but I would argue here more specifically, it is dependent upon one's perception of those circumstances. It is unstable and evokes a constant striving to attain pleasure and avoid pain.

Hedonism is based in stimulus-driven pleasures of all kinds and does not allow one to achieve authentic and durable happiness. Clinging to such stimuli as the actual source of one's happiness can easily give rise to at least intermittent, if not chronic anxiety as one faces the possibility, likelihood or certainty that stimuli will not last.

Authentic happiness on the other hand is not dependent upon circumstances, but rather gives a person the inner resources to deal with whatever comes his or her way in life. It is not linked to an activity but reflects a state of being, a profound emotional balance.

It is a state of durable plenitude based on a quality of consciousness that underlies and imbues each experience, thought, emotion and behavior and allows us to embrace all the joys and pain with which we are confronted in the full catastrophe we call Life.

Thank you for reading "Is It Just Me Or...?"

Best,
Rae