Against Happiness

Owen Flanagan is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Duke University and codirector of the Center for Comparative Philosophy. Joseph E. LeDoux is director of the Emotional Brain Institute and professor of neural science and psychology at New York University, as well as professor of psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone. Bobby Bingle is an independent scholar of comparative philosophy. Daniel M. Haybron is the Theodore R. Vitali, C.P., Professor of Philosophy at St. Louis University. Batja Mesquita is the director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of Leuven. Michele Moody-Adams is Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory at Columbia University. Songyao Ren is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Anna Sun is associate professor of sociology and religious studies at Duke University. Yolonda Y. Wilson is associate professor of health care ethics at St. Louis University.Jennifer A. Frey is associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Hazel Rose Markus is the Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Jeanne L. Tsai is professor of psychology at Stanford University.

Happiness studies started as an idealistic project but took shortcuts and so did not fulfill its ambitions. This important and trustworthy book takes us back to the drawing board to rebuild the foundations of this field. The new vision won’t make the science and policy of happiness easier, but it will make them more humane, more inclusive, and truer to life.

• PrefaceIntroductionPart I: Happiness Philosophy and Happiness Science1. Introduction: The Happiness Agenda2. Varieties of Theories and Measures of Well-Being and Happiness3. How Should We Think About the Emotion of Happiness Scientifically? Lessons from the Science of Fear4. Why Averaging Happiness Scores and Comparing Them Is a Terrible IdeaPart II: Culture and Happiness5. Positive and Negative Emotions: Culture, Content, and Context6. Happiness and Well-Being as Cultural Projects: Immigration, Biculturalism, Cultural Belonging7. Happiness and Well-Being in Contemporary ChinaPart III: Race, Racism, Resignation8. Happiness, Race, and Hermeneutical Justice: The Case of African American Mental Health9. Interpreting Self-Reports of Well-BeingPart IV: Conclusions10. Recommendations for Policy Use of Happiness Metrics11. Universal Rights, Sustainable Development, and Happiness: Two out of Three Ain’t BadPart V: Responses by Four Critics12. On Ersatz Happiness, by Jennifer A. Frey13. Why the Analysis and Assessment of Happiness Matters, by Hazel Rose Markus14. Three out of Three Is Better, by Jeffrey D. Sachs15. What the Gallup World Poll Could Do to Deepen Our Understanding of Happiness in Different Cultures, by Jeanne L. TsaiNotesReferencesIndex