# II: Of Happiness explained — The Religion of Nature Delineated

> Chapter companion for The Religion of Nature Delineated by William Wollaston.

## What happens

This chapter defines happiness as the excess of true pleasure over pain, establishes the duty to pursue happiness, and argues that true happiness is inseparable from truth and reason. It asserts that no being can be ultimately happy by contradicting nature or truth, and that genuine happiness for rational beings must be consistent with reason. The chapter concludes that the practice of truth and the pursuit of happiness are ultimately the same, forming the basis of natural religion.

## Themes in this chapter

### Happiness and Pleasure

Defines happiness as the sum of true pleasures exceeding pains, and establishes the duty to pursue happiness.

### Truth and Reason

Argues that true happiness must be consistent with reason and truth, and that irrational pleasures contradict a rational nature.

### Natural Religion and the Deity

Connects the pursuit of happiness and truth to natural religion, grounded in the natures of things and the will of the Author of nature.

## Character check-ins

### A Man

The authorial voice reasoning about happiness, duty, and the nature of pleasure and pain.

## Key lines

> That being may be said to be ultimately happy, in some degree or other, the sum total of whose pleasures exceeds the sum of all his pains

A being is ultimately happy if their total pleasures outweigh their total pains.

_Defines ultimate happiness as a net surplus of pleasure over pain._

> To make itself happy is a duty, which every being, in proportion to its capacity, owes to itself

Every being has a duty to pursue its own happiness according to its capacity.

_Establishes the moral obligation to seek happiness._

> The genuine happiness of every being must be something that is not incompatible with, or destructive of, its nature

True happiness for any being must not contradict or harm its essential nature.

_Links happiness to the preservation of one's nature, especially reason for rational beings._

> The way to happiness and the practice of truth incur the one into the other

The path to happiness and the practice of truth lead into each other and are ultimately the same.

_Concludes that truth and happiness are inseparable in the pursuit of natural religion._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_religion_of_nature_delineated_se/chapters/ii-of-happiness
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_religion_of_nature_delineated_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_religion_of_nature_delineated_se/chapters