Objective List Theory In this paper, I will argue that Objective List Theory is the best theory of well-being because it answers many questions brought up when discussing someone’s life, such as how someone can determine if a person’s life was good or bad overall or what aspect of their life dicates whether that person 's life was good or bad. Objective List Theory is the theory of well - being that states the only ingredients that are intrinsically valuable to one 's well-being are, accomplishment, freedom, and knowledge. Ultimately meaning, that these three characteristics are the only aspects of life that dictate if a person’s life is a good one or a bad one. In my opinion, I think that when it comes down to trying to dictate if a person’s …show more content…
From this one could say it is actually difficult to determine if one’s life is good or better than another’s life. As you look at the theory of Quantitative Hedonism, the presence of pleasure and absence of pain are the only aspects that can determine an intrinsically good life. To further explain this idea, I will use the example of the deceived business man. A businessman believed that his life was good and he experienced plenty of pleasure in his life to make his life good, so since that’s what he thought, it was true to him. However, behind the aspects of just how he felt about himself and his life, in actuality his wife was cheating on him and someone was stealing from him. Therefore, making it evident that his life was not good. Nonetheless, after you look at it from the Objective List Theory, the view on the man’s life and situation alters. From an outer look of this theory, the average observer would say that he really hasn’t achieved anything in his life. He is letting other people run his life because of the way he views his values and well - being, therefore, resulting in him being cheated on and deceived by the people around him and consequently takes away his freedom and knowledge of his own life. He becomes unaware of the circumstances he is in as well as the people he is associated himself with and
The setting in both Lord of the Flies and I Only Came to Use the Phone contributes to the dehumanization of the characters in each of the readings. The settings are both isolated, which is the cause of all the chaos that takes place because when you take a human being out of the comfort of society, they go back to their natural animalistic tendencies in order to survive. Survival of the fittest is present in these quotes. Also, the island archetype plays a huge role in both of the stories.
Hedonism is a theory of morality. There are several popular philosophers who support hedonism; some of whom offer their own interpretation of the theory. This paper will focus on the Epicurean view. Epicurus, a Greek philosophers born in 341 B.C., generated a significant measure of controversy amongst laymen and philosophical circles in regards to his view of the good life. Philosophers whom teachings predate Epicurus’ tended to focus on the question of “How can human beings live a good, morally sound, life?” Epicurus ruffled feathers and ultimately expanded the scope of philosophy by asking “What makes people happy?”
Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. "On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of
In chapter 2, Shafer-Landau proceeds to list the theories that attempt to disprove hedonism by highlight the shortcomings in its logic and hedonism's replies to these objections. The Argument from Autonomy, is one of strongest objections to hedonism listed. Shafer-Landau states that for a theory to pose a serious threat to hedonism, it needs to challenge the idea that happiness is the only thing of intrinsic value (34). Chapter 2 discuses four strong objections that have the potential and support to disprove hedonism. The Argument from Autonomy provides an abundance of strong information to support its claims.
This unit explored desire satisfactionism, a term that generally speaks for itself. Though it is an umbrella term because there are different types. There is local desire satisfactionism, which is the idea that if desires are satisfied, one is happy. Then there is whole life satisfactionism. It means that to be happy is to have one desire satisfied. This is the overarching desire that your most important desires be satisfied. It is prioritized assessment of one’s life as a whole. To compare local desire satisfactionism with whole life satisfactionism would be like comparing quality and quantity from a hedonist perspective. It is similar in regard to desire satisfactionism, two different types. Several individuals discuss whole life satisfactionism
In ancient greek philosophies such as platonic, aristotelian, stoic and epicurean, as well as in medieval christian philosophies, the answer to to the question “what makes a life go best?” is always a narrow answer. With little variation the only life that is good and worth living, to the aforementioned schools of thought, is the life which which is spent developing an understanding of nature and of metaphysics, or rather the life spent as a philosopher. However the position which is by far more popular today is that of pluralism. Pluralism is the concept that there are multiple ways to live that result in a life going best; Desire Satisfaction Theory attempts to offer a justification for pluralism.
According to Wolf, all meaningful lives have both a subjective and an objective aspect to them. These basics can make lives important only together. The general idea is that a person’s projects and activities in the end make his or her life meaningful,
...oncept of well-being. Overall, the amalgamation of the inconsistencies and errors I have attempted to highlight with my arguments I think prove my original hypothesis, that actual preference theory does not offer the correct account of well-being, because the arguments show that the fulfilment of a preference does not always produce consequences that are conducive to
Mill discusses hedonistic utilitarianism which is defined as “the morally best action is the one that maximizes happiness and minimizes pain; we try to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.” Hedonistic Utilitarianism is the theory based on that the right action is the one that produces or more likely produces...
Hedonism is a way of life that is rooted in a person’s experiences or states of consciousness that can be pleasant or unpleasant. The ethical egoist would state that a person should maximize his or her pleasant states of consciousness in order to lead the best life. Act Utilitarian on the other hand would state that these enjoyable states of consciousness should be maximized by one’s actions for everyone in order to attain the most utility. On the surface, this appears to be a good way to live, however, as Nozick states through his example of the experience machine that living life as a hedonist can be detrimental. It is a hollow existence that will ultimately be unsatisfactory because of the lack of making real decisions and relationships which are important to living a fulfilling life.
The ethical theory of utilitarianism is associated with the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarianism essentially is the theory that good is what causes a person pleasure and evil is what causes a person pain. Bentham’s utilitarianism is sometimes titled Act Utilitarianism because it focuses on individual actions A “right” action, according to Betham, is one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Where a “wrong” action is one that would cause more pain than pleasure. Before a person commits an action, they should look at the consequences that it can have on the individual and others. Hedonic Calculus is a method in determining how much pleasure or pain an action will elicit. Hedonic Calculus consists of seven criteria including intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent. Each criteria can be given a score between -10 (worst pain) to +10 (highest pleasure). The action becomes ethical and moral if there is an overall net happiness for everyone that is affected. An acti...
What is ideology? How can it help us understand media? Use academic literature to support your argument.
It refers to theory of xxx which things are good for us and what motivates us to behave in a certain way. In hedonism, gaining pleasure and avoiding pain are the only important things in living the good life. However, what is pleasure and pain is described quite broadly. That specific insight can relate to the theory of folk hedonism, a philosophical term which bears the common stereotype of a person who is concerned with only indulging in sex, drugs and rocknrol, while lacking foresight and sometimes might lead to problems, conflicts and
A moral theory should be one’s guide when deciding whether an action is either good or bad, wrong or right. There are many types of moral theories to choose from, but we will only focus on two: utilitarianism and ancient hedonism. These theories meet in their pursuit of something greater, for hedonism it’s personal pleasure while for utilitarianism it is happiness for the greater number of people. In this work, the differences and the similarities of utilitarianism and hedonism will be pointed out after explaining them separately.
When talking about pleasure there needs to be a distinction between the quality and the quantity. While having many different kinds of pleasures can be considered a good thing, one is more likely to favor quality over quantity. With this distinction in mind, one is more able to quantify their pleasures as higher or lesser pleasures by ascertaining the quality of them. This facilitates the ability to achieve the fundamental moral value that is happiness. In his book Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill offers a defining of utility as pleasure or the absence of pain in addition to the Utility Principle, where “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill 7). Through this principle, Mill emphasizes that it is not enough to show that happiness is an end in itself. Mill’s hedonistic view is one in support of the claim that every human action is motivated by or ought to be motivated by the pursuit of pleasure.