Wrestlers and Jugglers: Etzioni on Happiness

In “Happiness Is the Wrong Metric,” Amitai Etzioni challenges the dominant metaconception of human nature that focuses solely on happiness, suggesting it be replaced by the view of a person as a “moral wrestler,” who is “subject to an irreconcilable conflict between the quest for happiness…and the quest to fulfill their moral values.” I have two minor issues with the way Etzioni characterizes happiness. First, I argue that it is a mistake to reduce happiness to a state of pleasure. Second, I take issue with the image of the moral wrestler, for it seems to imply the domains of happiness and morality are not just independent but mutually exclusive. This view omits the possibility of achieving happiness through moral behavior and ignores the kinds of conflicts that arise when our moral values are incompatible. These conflicts are not between happiness and morality; instead our unhappiness arises precisely because we have failed morally.