Money is the only thing that matters in life

Is it possible to be happy without money? Yes

Is it possible to be unhappy with Money? Yes

Happiness is a mindset. Money however makes it easier to maintain that mindset.

Sounds like your first statement says you need money to survive. But that's not nesicarliy true as you can work and barter for survival, it's just harder to find that opportunity to successfully do that.

The rest is just the degree of materialism for your own happiness.

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I would agree with that. That statement however makes the title of your thread untrue

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The title is a question, I could have made that more clear. BUT, if money buys freedom and freedom = happiness then I would argue that money does in fact buy happiness. I'm also conflicted about what happiness really is though. If the same happiness that you achieve by buying a nice car could be achieved by getting drunk then it seems like buying the nice car is unnecessary.

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freedom only gives you the opportunity to be happy. There are plenty of people that are free and unhappy.

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Good point. I guess happiness isn't a codified state and it can mean different things to different people. I'm really interested in what happiness is at a base level, like the chemical reactions in our brains that cause us to feel happy, and how those reactions can influence human interaction and behavior.

Read some Aristotle. Happiness (or flourishing) is the central purpose of human life, the only goal in and of itself. A certain amount of money is a necessary precondition to happiness, as is a basic level of health.

So no, money isn’t the most important thing in life. But it is needed.

And to think that money buys freedom is simplistic. First question whether there is any such thing as freedom. Assuming there is, it would seem to be much more of an internal perspective than an outward condition. As Sartre would argue, existence is freedom.

I think you're neglecting the idea that people need fulfillment. Thanks to natural selection, it's one of our most deeply engrained need.

Money/freedom in and of itself doesn't provide as much happiness if you don't feel like you've earned it. If you win the lottery or inherit a lot of money, you're missing the main benefit that you would have gotten had you earned it: a signal from society that you're providing value.

This is a slight tangent but I think this is related to a big problem with modern society. A lot of people's jobs aren't very closely connected to the results/finished product. And if it is closely connected, it's usually just a matter of a standardized/repetitive process. Difficult for someone to get much of a sense of fulfillment from that.

Your premise is that happiness is the ultimate goal of life.

Not the case for me.

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Your premise is that happiness is the ultimate goal of life

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I’m curious what your goal is

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I'm also conflicted about what happiness really is though. If the same happiness that you achieve by buying a nice car could be achieved by getting drunk then it seems like buying the nice car is unnecessary.

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It all depends on your definition of happiness.

To me, the feelings of buying a car or getting drunk, while they may feel good, are too fleeting to be considered "happiness."

Happiness, at least for me, is more longterm - a feeling of being pleased with your life and the things that are important to you. Money helps, of course, but I don't see it as the end all be all.

In the US, you need a certain amount of money to be content in life. Don't know what that number is but enough to where you don't have to live paycheck to paycheck.

After that extra money certainly does not compound/amplify that contentment, at least not permanently.

I've been broke and now I'm doing well in life. You can have good times here and there when you're broke but no one can convince me that you can be persistently content in life when you have to worry about paying rent or gas money.