Ethics for Everyone

Moral wisdom for the modern world.

by Michael Austin

Happiness is Impossible

Happiness is impossible, if we're engrossed by self-love.

Published on October 26, 2010 by Michael W. Austin in Ethics for Everyone

Over the past couple of years, I've spent some time studying virtues and virtue-based ethical theories. This is, amazingly, part of my job as a moral philosopher! One book I have found to be useful is A Theory of Virtue, by philosopher Robert Adams. In the chapter dealing with self-love and the vices of self-preference he quotes Bishop Joseph Butler (1692-1752) as follows:

"if self love wholly engrosses us, and leaves no room for any other principle, there can be absolutely no such thing at all as happiness, or enjoyment of any kind whatever; since happiness consists in the gratification of particular passions, which supposes the having of them."

Adams comments that with this in mind, it is to our advantage regarding happiness if we have desires or passions for things apart from our own happiness. Otherwise, what could we be happy about?

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If I'm focused on my own happiness all the time, introspectively taking my happiness temperature, as JP Moreland puts it, it will become very difficult to be happy. This is because happiness is a product of the satisfaction of particular desires for other things. For example, my desire that my child learn, grow, and develop morally is satisfied when I see these things occur. But I must care about the child's welfare to truly want these things for her. Then I obtain happiness because I have a desire for something apart from my own happiness. If all I cared about was my own happiness, it would be impossible to be happy, because I'd literally have nothing to be happy about.

Happiness is impossible if all I want is my own happiness.

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