1 Value-theory & the Good Life Section 1 Pleasure, Happiness & Flourishing

2 Pleasure Pleasure & enjoyment are generally agreed to be intrinsically valuable. Thought-experiments help show that hedonists are mistaken to claim that nothing but pleasure is intrinsically valuable. Robert Nozick’s Experience Machine.

3 Happiness Happiness, like enjoyment, is either a feeling or an attitude, although its older meaning is ‘a life of blessedness’. As such, it is almost always desirable or a blessing.

4 But… A life of happiness, like a life of pleasure, could lack or omit much that could make it more desirable.

5 Flourishing The flourishing of a creature involves the development of its essential capacities. Thus human flourishing involves the development of essential human capacities (whether distinctive or non-distinctive).

6 Flourishing Health, autonomy, accomplishment & happiness will normally all be present in a flourishing life. But there can be exceptions, & a flourishing life can be lacking with respect to health or autonomy or accomplishment or happiness.

7 Autonomy Autonomy has a key place within human well-being, & need not be regarded as comprising an independent principle.

8 Autonomy Usually plays a crucial part in a person’s flourishing, but it does not always trump other dimensions of well-being, & can sometimes rightly be over-ridden.