Can philosophy really make us happier? In my opinion, philosophy changes the way you think, and the different perspectives unlock parts of your mind. Mental doors are opened. Why do we do anything that we do anyways? For happiness, your own happiness. Whatever you do, even committing a selfless act, revolves around your own happiness. Would you help an old lady cross the street if it made you unhappy? Probably not, right? The study of philosophy is the idea of studying many wise people sharing their ideas. This does not mean you must accept them. Learning about them can’t do any harm. Listen to them, and see where it takes you from there. Philosophy, in my opinion, has the ability to make us significantly happier by changing the way we view emotions, showing us true priorities in life, and teaches us to not be satisfied with the easy and appealing answer. Philosophy teaches us about our emotions and how to deal with them. Take Seneca, for example. Seneca is a very famous philosopher who is world renowned for his philosophical beliefs regarding the emotion anger. His belief in a nutshell is that anger is derived from a surprise that inconveniences you. For example, examine driving and traffic jams. If every time you get into a car you know that someone is going to cut you off or drive in a way you dislike, why do you continue to get angry? All anger does is cloud your judgement, and make you unhappy. His solution to not getting angry is daily meditation - waking up earlier in the day, and thinking about all the things that can go wrong and devising solutions to them. In doing this, if they happen, you are completely prepared for the worst. The best part about this is the fact that these inconveniences most likely won’t happen throughout the day, and then you become more and more grateful for the average day you’re having. Another example is love. A very wise man named Schopenhauer described it perfectly and now I’ve been able to grasp on to the concept a lot better than before because it’s quite a foreign emotion to me. I know the love of my family, but not o