Happiness and the Importance of Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction is widely thought important—so important that many identify it with, or think it central to, happiness. But three problems undermine its significance. Most importantly, our evaluations of our lives are inherently arbitrary, so that life satisfaction’s importance as a verdict on one’s life is dubious. Second, most people appear not to have, or need, well-defined attitudes of life (dis-)satisfaction. Life (dis-)satisfaction may be defined in too few cases to be a major practical concern. Moreover, the judgments people do make about their lives are not well-grounded. Third, life satisfaction attitudes can diverge radically from the affective states that might be thought to make them valuable. Life satisfaction theorists can avoid one or two of these problems by modifying their views. But all versions are vulnerable to at least one of the problems. Life satisfaction is badly overrated, and should probably not be identified with happiness. I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot; they amount to fourteen. Abd-El-Raham (912-961) We are made happy when reason can discover no occasion for it. Henry David Thoreau