Structuring Ends
Philosophia 38 (4):691-713 (2010)
Abstract
There is disagreement among contemporary theorists regarding human well-being. On one hand there are “substantive good” views, according to which the most important elements of a person’s well-being result from her nature as a human, rational, and/or sentient being. On the other hand there are “agent-constituted” views, which contend that a person’s well-being is constituted by her particular aims, desires, and/or preferences. Each approach captures important features of human well-being, but neither can provide a complete account: agent-constituted theories have difficulty accounting for the normativity of their claims, and substantive good theories have difficulty accounting for how a person’s actually adopted aims shape what is good for her and hence what she has reason to do. I articulate and defend a hybrid view that equals these approaches in systematicity and completeness of explanation yet seeks to surpass them in coherence with our ordinary judgments about what human well-being consists in. This hybrid view maintains, with agent-constituted theories, that a person’s well-being is (1) significantly constituted by her actually adopted aims; (2) deeply contingent; (3) agent-relative; (4) significantly dependent on spatially and temporally remote events; and (5) significantly independent of her experiences. The hybrid view also maintains, with substantive good theories, that a person’s well-being is (6) in part determined by facts independent of her aims, desires, and preferences; (7) such that all her aims are subject to critical evaluation and revision; and (8) constituted by her aims only if these aims are choiceworthyAuthor's Profile
DOI
10.1007/s11406-010-9247-8
My notes
Similar books and articles
Substance and procedure in theories of prudential value.Valerie Tiberius - 2007 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 85 (3):373 – 391.
Justifying reasons, motivating reasons, and agent relativism in ethics.John J. Tilley - 2004 - Philosophical Studies 118 (3):373-399.
The constitution view of persons: A critique.William Hasker - 2004 - International Philosophical Quarterly 44 (1):23-34.
Internalism about a person’s good: don’t believe it.Alexander Sarch - 2011 - Philosophical Studies 154 (2):161-184.
Values, desires, and love: Reflections on Wollheim's moral psychology.Ching-wa Wong - 2011 - Ratio 24 (1):78-90.
Persons and the metaphysics of resurrection.Lynne Rudder Baker - 2007 - Religious Studies 43 (3):333-348.
Analytics
Added to PP
2010-05-07
Downloads
58 (#206,315)
6 months
3 (#227,001)
2010-05-07
Downloads
58 (#206,315)
6 months
3 (#227,001)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Meriting Concern and Meriting Respect.Jon Garthoff - 2010 - Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 5 (2):1-29.