ON STUDYING THE PHENOMENON OF HAPPINESS
The work provides a brief overview of the main scientific literature on the study of happiness. Happiness is presented as one of the most difficult categories of being, which is considered by different researchers from completely different angles of view. A brief description of ancient philosophers’ works is presented. Those who have set the general direction of thinking about this phenomenon of being are singled out (characteristics of the positions of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and other thinkers who laid the foundations of eudomonism, hedonism, stoicism, epicurism are given). The main attention is paid to the current state of the problem of happiness. Several main scientific approaches to the study of the phenomenon of happiness are described. A modern approach to happiness has been singled out, which has an economic and socio-ethical basis, it is related to life satisfaction and well-being, it is happiness that sociologists, economists and psychologists are trying to measure, which is reflected in a number of ratings, starting with the World Happy Planet Index. The interest of the business community in happiness has been revealed. The ethical approach to studying the phenomenon of happiness was analyzed. A group of works in which happiness is studied in a religious and axiological context is singled out. The article examines the studies in which happiness is presented from socio-ethical point of view, at the same time ideological foundations of happiness are highlighted, on the one hand, its class character and socio-economic conditionality are shown, and on the other hand, its moral legitimacy. The works that show the dependence of happiness on the material world, the relationship between happiness and goodness are highlighted. The works that consider happiness as a philosophical and anthropological phenomenon as the most important value of being are highlighted. The works in which the psychological or social-psychological approach in studying happiness is realized are singled out; a special group of works was formed in which happiness is considered from sociological, psychological, economic and philosophical positions, the studies in which happiness is investigated in national-traditional contexts are also presented in the review, a number of linguistic and literary works which are focused on various felicific theories are given in the article.