‘We cannot achieve happiness’
Should we just give up hope and accept our inevitable fate? Would that enable us to achieve a state of contentment that masquerades as happiness? According to writer, philosopher and biologist Midas Dekkers, in their futile quest for ‘perfection’, humans are constantly confronted with their own shortcomings. Tomorrow, he will speak at Spui25 about his book Het menselijk tekort (the human shortcoming). Five questions as a preview.
Can we, as humans, really be happy?
“No, we can't. The volition is there. Not for some people, mind you. But even those who desperately want to be happy and to make other people happy come up against shortcomings of all humans: you want things you can't have and, conversely, you do things you don't really want to do.
“It's as if we consist of two beings. We are good and kind, but there is a beast inside us. If you're not careful, you'll do what that beast wants to do.
“Every person thinks they can escape this law of nature, if they study a lot, exercise hard enough and only eat nasty, healthy things. Then you will know the way out of this earthly valley of tears. That is not the case; we are trapped in that cage called humanity. Against our better judgement, we strive for perfection, even though we realise that perfection is not so much fun after all.”
Can we, as humans, really be happy?
“No, we can't. The volition is there. Not for some people, mind you. But even those who desperately want to be happy and to make other people happy come up against shortcomings of all humans: you want things you can't have and, conversely, you do things you don't really want to do.
“It's as if we consist of two beings. We are good and kind, but there is a beast inside us. If you're not careful, you'll do what that beast wants to do.
“Every person thinks they can escape this law of nature, if they study a lot, exercise hard enough and only eat nasty, healthy things. Then you will know the way out of this earthly valley of tears. That is not the case; we are trapped in that cage called humanity. Against our better judgement, we strive for perfection, even though we realise that perfection is not so much fun after all.”
Midas Dekkers (1946) studied Biology at the University of Amsterdam and has an extensive oeuvre of philosophical and biological books to his name. Twenty-five years ago, he wrote The Way of All Flesh (De vergankelijkheid), the only book he is truly proud of. “Because it’s such a good title, the book just follows naturally,” he says. For two and a half decades, he searched for a title that would have the same effect. Dekkers: “That became Het menselijk tekort.” The book was published in October 2025.
In your book, you often refer to the Bible or the divine. Do you believe in God?
“No, of course not. I'm not crazy. But life is very difficult without constantly invoking the metaphor of God. You would like there to be a motive, a system behind everything.
“Humanity calls on us to remain hopeful, to always be optimistic. I think: have you ever really thought about it? You can also give up. You can just stay in bed until it stops. That's taboo in our society; you're not even allowed to think about it.”
What makes us human?
"Humanness is what characterises us, compared to other animals. That we cannot fly, that we are stubborn and that we write dry-hearted thoughts in notebooks.
"We have absolutely no free will. You have nothing to wish for. You only have the appearance of choice. I am convinced that the processes that take place in our brains, the ideas we get there, are just as much a result of evolution as the functioning of our hearts. To me, it seems a presumptuous and foolish assumption that the brain is not dependent on all those years of evolution.’
Are you satisfied with your human existence?
"To a reasonable extent, but that's because I'm so old. It's the only meaning of life: you're born, you look in the mirror, you're shocked by what you see there: what a loser. Life consists of gradually learning to accept that you are who you are. Most people need about eighty years to do that, which is why we live to be about eighty.
"A mouse caught by a cat flails around at first with its little mouse paws. Then it's as if a switch flipped. As if it realises that further resistance is pointless, it lets itself go. Not because it's already half dead, but because that mouse thinks, as it were: well, why not, it's all good."
