Derek Parfit outlines three theories of self-interest and well-being: 1) Hedonic well-being - Happiness comes from pleasure and lack of pain regardless of external facts 2) Desire fulfillment - Well-being comes from fulfilling one's desires about subjective states and objective facts 3) Objective list - Certain objective things are good/bad for people like knowledge, relationships, regardless of desires/feelings Each theory is criticized - Hedonism ignores facts, Desire fulfillment ignores bad preferences, the Objective list is unclear on what makes the list.

1. +
Parfit’s three theories of
happiness

2. +
DEREK PARFIT
BRITISH PHILOSOPHER
OXFORD UNIVERSITY

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1)
HEDONIC
WELLBEING
THREE THEORIES
2)DESIRE
OF SELF-
INTEREST FULFILLMENT
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE’S LIFE GO
BEST?
3) OBJECTIVE LIST

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HEDONIC WELLBEING
 Argues that:
 The best life is one filled with the best subjective mental states.
 Only facts about an individual’s mental state matter, not facts
about the external world.
 Two types of hedonic mental states:

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Two types
 Narrow hedonism: Happiness ismaximising pleasure
andminimising pain.
 Preference hedonism – the best mental states are simply
those that individuals desire the most.
 -Life goes well if you experience getting the things you want
Eg. Near the end of his life, Freud refused painkillers, preferring
to think in torment than to be confusedly euphoric. A
Preference-Hedonist would claim that since Freud preferred to
think clearly though in torment, his life went better if it went as
preferred.

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DESIRE FULFILLMENT
 Argues that the best life is one that fulfills an individual’s
greatest desires.
 Success theory – only the satisfaction of your desires about
yourself count
 Can converge with preference hedonism if the desire is to
achieve certain subjective mental states (i.e. “I want to be in
love”)
 In other cases, desires can be about objective states of the
world (i.e. “I want my spouse to be faithful”)
 Even if one never knows the truth, it is bad for them and results
in a worse life.

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OBJECTION TO D-FT & PHT
SOMEONE COULD PREFER WHAT IS NOT BEST FOR THEM
EVEN IF THEY KNOW ALL OF THE FACTS!

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OBJECTIVE LIST ACCOUNT
 Certain things are good or bad for people.
 We prefer x (good) because it is valuable whereas in DFT & PHT, x is valuable
because we prefer it
 Good – moral goodness, rational activity, awareness of true beauty, knowledge
 Bad – betrayal, manipulation, slander, deceit, deprivation of freedom, enjoying
sadistic pleasure
 Preference-Hedonism – “I do not want to feel deceived”
 Desire fulfillment – “ I do not want to be deceived”
 Objective list – “I do not want to be deceived because it Is bad for me”

9. +
OBJECTION TO OBJECTIVE
LIST!
WHAT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST OF WHAT IS GOOD OR
BAD??

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Theory Description
Hedonistic Happiness
Desire-fulfillment Getting what you
want
In sum…
Objective list Getting X, Y, Z
(sometimes
regardless of
whether you want
them or how they
make you feel)

11. +  Your father gives your rooster to a
chicken farm. It dies a cruel death.
 Hedonism - Doesn’t matter as long as
you never find out
 Success theory – Matters if you wanted
to be a successful rooster owner
 Object list – Matters because deceit is
Hypothetical bad and you want good!