The happiness one would feel upon receiving winning lottery results would be unbelievable, though I can only speculate. Aristippus of Cyrene, student of Socrates, was the first philosopher to develop a complete philosophy of happiness. Aristippus believed that life’s goal was to seek external pleasure which led to the common held belief that he was the founder of hedonism.
Antisthenes, also a student of Socrates, advocated a very different method for the pursuit of happiness. Antisthenes believed that inner happiness arose from an ascetic life that was lived in accordance with virtue. By living a life of simplicity, naturalness, peace and modesty, one’s inner tensions are dissolved. Antisthenes, in direct contrast to Aristippus, pursued the pleasures which spring “from out of one’s soul”. Antisthenes advocated a form of happiness that was strikingly similar to the Enlightenment philosophies of Buddhism, Chinese Taoism, and Indian Yoga.
Plato, perhaps the one of the most famous of Socrates’ students, believed the human soul comprised three parts: The will, the desire and the reason. When all three parts of the soul are balanced, Plato believed man is happy.