Comments on Badhwar, Well-Being: Happiness in a Worthwhile Life

Excerpt

In her interesting book, Well-Being: Happiness in a Worthwhile Life, Neera Badhwar argues that (1) well-being as the highest prudential good requires an objectively worthwhile life, (2) an objectively worthwhile life entails what she calls ‘realism’ as a character trait, (3) realism entails a life of virtue, and (4) thus, well-being requires a life of virtue. (This argument is succinctly stated on the book’s dust jacket.) Additionally, she argues against psychologists who claim that realism is bad for us and correlates with depression, and that virtues cannot be global traits but are what she calls ‘domain-dependent.’ My comments will focus on three topics, two of which pertain to realism and one that has to do with virtue. First, I question the claim that realism entails a life of virtue. Second, I seek more information about the kinds of mental states that might be included in a realistic outlook and how they function to enhance our agency and well-being, especially positive illusions, hope and optimism, fantasies, and imagination. Finally, I am skeptical about the claim that virtue cannot be global, but instead, is domain-dependent. Before I begin, a caveat: though I focus on criticisms of Badhwar’s book, readers should be aware that I find much in it to value and admire. This is true despite the fact that in the spirit of an “author meets critics” session, I’ve focused on areas of disagreement. …