Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (forthcoming)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
There are roughly two philosophical literatures on “happiness,” each corresponding to a different sense of the term. One uses ‘happiness’ as a value term, roughly synonymous with well-being or flourishing. The other body of work uses the word as a purely descriptive psychological term, akin to ‘depression’ or ‘tranquility’. An important project in the philosophy of happiness is simply getting clear on what various writers are talking about: what are the important meanings of the term and how do they connect? While the “well-being” sense of happiness receives significant attention in the contemporary literature on well-being, the psychological notion is undergoing a revival as a major focus of philosophical inquiry, following on recent developments in the science of happiness. This entry focuses on the psychological sense of happiness (for the well-being notion, see the entry on well-being). The main accounts of happiness in this sense are hedonism, the life satisfaction theory, and the emotional state theory. Leaving verbal questions behind, we find that happiness in the psychological sense has always been an important concern of philosophers. Yet the significance of happiness for a good life has been hotly disputed in recent decades. Further questions of contemporary interest concern the relation between the philosophy and science of happiness, as well as the role of happiness in social and political decision-making
|
Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
On a Confusion About a Function of Consciousness.Ned Block - 1995 - Brain and Behavioral Sciences 18 (2):227-–247.
Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach.Martha C. Nussbaum - 2000 - Cambridge University Press.
View all 219 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
True Happiness: The Role of Morality in the Folk Concept of Happiness.Jonathan Phillips, Christian Mott, Julian De Freitas, June Gruber & Joshua Knobe - 2017 - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 146 (2):165-181.
Attributionism and Moral Responsibility for Implicit Bias.Michael Brownstein - 2016 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 7 (4):765-786.
The Good in Happiness.Jonathan Phillips, Sven Nyholm & Shen-yi Liao - 2014 - In Tania Lombrozo, Shaun Nichols & Joshua Knobe (eds.), Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. pp. 253–293.
Happiness, Cerebroscopes and Incorrigibility: Prospects for Neuroeudaimonia.Stephanie M. Hare & Nicole A. Vincent - 2016 - Neuroethics 9 (1):69-84.
View all 24 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
"Happiness" and Economics.Mark Chekola - 2007 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 5:175-180.
Happiness and Pleasure.Daniel M. Haybron - 2001 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62 (3):501-528.
On Being Happy or Unhappy.Daniel M. Haybron - 2005 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (2):287–317.
Mourning Happiness: Narrative and the Politics of Modernity.Vivasvan Soni - 2010 - Cornell University Press.
The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being.Daniel M. Haybron - 2008 - Oxford University Press.
Happiness, Tranquillity, and Philosophy.Charles L. Griswold - 1996 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 10 (1):1-32.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2011-07-07
Total views
157 ( #73,643 of 2,499,260 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
13 ( #59,160 of 2,499,260 )
2011-07-07
Total views
157 ( #73,643 of 2,499,260 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
13 ( #59,160 of 2,499,260 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads