The Meanings of
‘Happiness’
and What They
Mean for
Policymaking
Dan Weijers
20 October 2011
Well-Being
The
prudentially
good life
The life
that is
good for
the one
living it
Well-being
• What makes someone's life go
better/best for them?
Happiness ≠ wellbeing?
• Some accounts just use happiness
– Some don’t use it at all
• Key Questions:
– What are the ultimate bearers of
prudential value for us?
– What directly makes our lives go
better for us?
Policymaking
Sustainability
↑ Well-being
(WB)
Subjective WB
Overall
Domain-Specific
Justice
Objective WB
Quality of Life
Indicators
Traditional
Economic
Indicators
HAPPINESS
Mental
state/
hedonism
Life
Satisfaction
theories
Objective
List/
Flourishing
•Survey
•Pager
•Day reconstruction
•Survey
•“All things
considered,
how
satisfied are
you with
your life?”
•Survey
•Rate
agreement
“I have
good
friends”
Fairness
Equality
Health/
healthcare
Freedom
Trust
Safety
Environment
Education
Equality
Employment
Happiness
Income
Wealth
Production
Brain
scan
Behavioural
Mental State
Theories
Well-being
Happiness
Especially hedonism
+ve net
balance of
good over
bad mental
states
• Folk: get pleasure now!
• Philosophers: maximise pleasure over your
entire life
• Key: All that matters is how you feel (your
mental states)
What about Truth & Freedom?
• Compare two lives
– Same experiences
– Different reality
• Double agent partner
• Sponsored children all
died
• Whose life is better?
• What should we do
about a happy slave?
Measuring Mental
State Happiness
• Survey Questions
– “How happy are you these days?”
• Pager method
– “What are you doing now and how are
you feeling?”
• Day reconstruction method
– Note down activities and mood
from previous day
Life Satisfaction Theories
Happiness
Well-being
Having most or more of
your desires satisfied
Sometimes
• Based on desire/preference-satisfaction
• Informed: adequately informed desires only
• Ideal: desires that fit some objective
criteria only
• Key: All that matters is getting what you
want
Is the Satisfaction of Our
Desires Good for us?
• Actual and informed desires are often
for things that are, on balance, bad
for us!
• Ideal desires require some kind of
objective standard
• We choose to desire things because we
think that their satisfaction will
provide us with some value or meaning
• D-S accounts put the value in the
satisfaction, not the ultimate reason
for having the desire
Measuring Life Satisfaction
Happiness
• Survey Questions:
– “All things considered, how satisfied are
you with your life as a whole?”
– “Compared to what it could have been, how
satisfied are you with your life?”
Flourishing Theories
Well-being
Flourishing
Developing & expressing
natural capacities
• Developing excellencies in one or all of your
species’ fundamental traits
• Only some versions include or require
happiness/enjoyment of life
• Aristotle: Flourishing is the soul expressing
virtue
– Virtues are ‘golden means’
• E.g. cowardice – courage - rashness
• Key: All that matters is being the best
you can be (given that you’re a human)
Flourishing = Objective List
• But, which traits do you
prioritise?
– Is excellence in reasoning or longdistance running better for us?
• Unnatural things can be good for
us too!
– E.g. Pacemakers, wings etc.
• We end up with a list of things
that are good for us
Objective List =
‘Objective’ List
• A list of the ultimate goods
• Most objective list theories lack
justification for their irreducible goods
• E.g. Ross’ account:
– Knowledge, Pleasure, Virtue and the proper
apportionment of pleasure to virtue
• Can’t we explain knowledge with pleasure
or desire-satisfaction?
• Why is it ultimately better for me that
my pleasure comes from virtue?
Who Are We to Write the
Objective List?
• Is there any
objective
truth to what
constitutes
the prudential
good life?
Measuring Objective
List/Flourishing Well-Being
• Survey Questions:
– “Rate the extent to which you agree with the
following statements”
•
•
•
•
•
•
I maintain many good friendships
My life is meaningful
I am a virtuous person
I am rarely deceived
I am very knowledgeable
I am free to act as I please (when not harming
others)
• I live in a pristine environment
Policymaking
Sustainability
↑ Well-being
(WB)
Subjective WB
Overall
Domain-Specific
Justice
Objective WB
Quality of Life
Indicators
Traditional
Economic
Indicators
HAPPINESS
Mental
state/
hedonism
Life
Satisfaction
theories
Objective
List/
Flourishing
•Survey
•Pager
•Day reconstruction
•Survey
•“All things
considered,
how
satisfied are
you with
your life?”
•Survey
•Rate
agreement
“I have
good
friends”
Fairness
Equality
Health/
healthcare
Freedom
Trust
Safety
Environment
Education
Equality
Employment
Happiness
Income
Wealth
Production
Brain
scan
Behavioural
SWB Survey Problems
• Appraisal biases
– Test-specific
– Greater context
• Aspirational
biases
Conceptual
Problem
• It’s so
subjective!
• Is there an
objective
basis for
happiness?
• Brain scans
• Behavioural
analysis
(e.g. smiles)
Case: Income vs. Happiness
• Measures of income:
– Used by economists & politicians
– Key indicator of ‘national progress’
• Income is an indicator of ability
to satisfy preferences
• More income is good because it
makes you more free and more
happy
Does $$ Make Us Happy?
Materialism Doesn’t Pay
Very High
Why Not Measure
Happiness & Freedom?
•
•
•
•
But which measures to use?
Which measures capture the most
of the prudential good life?
Is it more important to be happy
or satisfied?
In a capitalist democracy, we
might have to put these things to
a vote or let the market decide…
Policymaking
Sustainability
↑ Well-being
(WB)
Subjective WB
Overall
Domain-Specific
Justice
Objective WB
Quality of Life
Indicators
Traditional
Economic
Indicators
HAPPINESS
Mental
state/
hedonism
Life
Satisfaction
theories
Objective
List/
Flourishing
•Survey
•Pager
•Day reconstruction
•Survey
•“All things
considered,
how
satisfied are
you with
your life?”
•Survey
•Rate
agreement
“I have
good
friends”
Fairness
Equality
Health/
healthcare
Freedom
Trust
Safety
Environment
Education
Equality
Employment
Happiness
Income
Wealth
Production
Brain
scan
Behavioural