Theoria 74 (3):219-238 (2008)
Abstract |
The most popular concepts of happiness among psychologists and philosophers nowadays are concepts of happiness according to which happiness is defined as " satisfaction with life as a whole ". Such concepts are " Whole Life Satisfaction " concepts of happiness. I show that there are hundreds of non-equivalent ways in which a WLS conception of happiness can be developed. However, every precise conception either requires actual satisfaction with life as a whole or requires hypothetical satisfaction with life as a whole. I show that a person can be "happy" at a time even though he is not actually satisfied with his life as a whole at that time. I also show that a person can be "happy" at a time even though it is not correct to say that if he were to think about his life at that time, he would be satisfied with it as a whole. My thesis is that if you think that happiness is the Good, you should avoid defining happiness as whole life satisfaction.
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Keywords | welfare eudaimonism Richard Brandt Wayne Sumner prudential value happiness Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz whole life satisfaction well‐being Elizabeth Telfer |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1111/j.1755-2567.2008.00019.x |
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The Advice Models of Happiness: A Response to Feldman.Jussi Suikkanen - 2019 - International Journal of Wellbeing 9 (2):8-13.
Love, Poetry, and the Good Life: Mill's Autobiography and Perfectionist Ethics.Samuel Clark - 2010 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 53 (6):565-578.
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