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The Shape of a Life and Desire Satisfaction
Author(s) -
Bruckner Donald W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
pacific philosophical quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1468-0114
pISSN - 0279-0750
DOI - 10.1111/papq.12240
Subject(s) - value (mathematics) , narrative , epistemology , life satisfaction , value of life , social psychology , welfare , psychology , sociology , positive economics , philosophy , microeconomics , computer science , economics , law , political science , linguistics , machine learning
It is widely accepted by philosophers of well‐being that the shape or narrative structure of a life is a significant determinant of its overall welfare value. Most arguments for this thesis posit agent‐independent value in certain life shapes. The desire theory of well‐being, I argue, has all of the resources needed to account for the value that many philosophers have identified in lives with certain shapes. The theory denies that there is any agent‐independent value in shapes and, indeed, allows that there can be both agent‐dependent value and agent‐dependent dis value in the shapes commonly claimed to hold agent‐independent value.