Possible Research Topics

General Questions about Happiness

• What is the definition of happiness?

• What is a happy life and what does it consist of?

• Is it an easy or difficult life?

• Why is it inseparable from truth?

• Is it an end or a means?

• Does my past or my personal history condition it?

• Is it something that happens to us or something that we create?

• Can we choose to be happy? Can I restart and build from now on a happy life?

• Are we all called to be happy?

• What is the relationship between happiness and faith?

• What is the difference between natural and supernatural happiness?

Happiness in Relation to Various Fields

Well-Being

• How does happiness differ from well-being?

• Can we choose our state of well-being?

• Why do pleasure, wealth and power not satisfy people?

• Is poverty necessarily a cause of unhappiness?

• How can one help the sick to be happy?

• Are societies with higher economic well-being necessarily the happiest?

Hobbies

• What is the role of sport in human flourishing?

• Is competition a necessary element of sport?

• Does the good life include many or few hobbies?

• How should one fill times of rest?

The Others

• Is it possible to make others happy?

• Is giving oneself to others and thinking about them compatible with or opposed to one's own happiness?

• How are individual and social happiness related?

• To what extent do we depend on things or other people?

• Do I become happy through or in spite of others?

• Is online friendship possible?

• To what extent is true friendship necessary for a successful life?

• What are the requirements for happiness in the family?

• Why are large families usually joyful?

• Is happiness possible in youth?

• How to live courtship well?

Virtues & Freedom

• How does happiness differ from well-being?

• Can we choose our state of well-being?

• Why do pleasure, wealth and power not satisfy people?

• Is poverty necessarily a cause of unhappiness?

• How can one help the sick to be happy?

• Are societies with higher economic well-being necessarily the happiest?

Pain

• How does happiness differ from well-being?

• Can we choose our state of well-being?

• Why do pleasure, wealth and power not satisfy people?

• Is poverty necessarily a cause of unhappiness?

• How can one help the sick to be happy?

• Are societies with higher economic well-being necessarily the happiest?

Medicine

• What is the relationship between happiness and physical health, mental health, stress, etc.?

• Can people with disabilities be happy?

Society & Law

• How does one promote happiness in relation to private property and public property?

• Do we best achieve social harmony by reward or punishment?

• Criminal law: punish to make the guilty happy?

• How can we help marginalized communities (elderly, sick, poor, slaves, immigrants, etc.)?

• Is war compatible with happiness?

• Is politics a service in favor of common flourishing?

Work

• Does teleworking promote happiness?

• Individual work and teamwork: how to achieve a balance?

• To what extent does vocation and professional enthusiasm condition our happiness?

• Should the company be concerned about the happiness of its employees?

• Does happiness motivate entrepreneurship?

Communication

• How does happiness appear in advertising and marketing?

• How is it communicated? Can one use social networks with temperance?

• How do we talk about happiness in language?

• Famous people look happy: are they really so? Does technology make us happy?

Art

• How do literature, painting, film, etc. depict happiness?

• What music, art, painting, etc., makes us happiest?

• Why does everyone have his or her own style of film?

• Is the happiness that is usually shown in the arts in accordance with reality?

Architecture

• What are the elements of an authentic home?

• Neuro-architecture: how does the layout, beauty and color of cities influence citizens' lives?

• Urban life: does it promote happiness and do smart cities contribute to it?