THEORIES OF HAPPINESS - University of Notre Dame

Paper presented at conference on New Directions in the Study of HAPPINESS : United States and International Perspectives , University of Notre Dame, USA, October 22-24 2006 First draft, October 2006 HOW DO WE ASSESS HOW HAPPY WE ARE? Tenets, implications and tenability of three THEORIES Ruut Veenhoven1 Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, E-mail: ABSTRACT Utilitarian moral philosophy holds that we should aim at greater HAPPINESS for a greater number. Yet two THEORIES about how we assess how happy we are imply that there is not much value in HAPPINESS and that HAPPINESS cannot de raised lastingly. These two THEORIES are: (1) Set-point theory, which holds that we are mentally programmed for a certain degree of HAPPINESS , and (2) Comparison theory holding that HAPPINESS results from a rational mental calculus involving comparison with standard of the good life.

happiness itself. Even a perfect person will be unhappy when living in Hell. Utility of life The left bottom quadrant represents the notion that a good life must be good for something more than itself. This presumes some higher value, such as ecological preservation or cultural development. Moral advisors emphasize this quality of life.

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