Enduring Happiness: Integrating the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Approaches

Abstract

In explaining individual happiness, economists have largely emphasized the hedonic, utilitarian, material, and tangible aspects of a person’s life. Another important explanation which owes much to Aristotle’s thought emphasizes the eudaimonic, the realization of a person’s inherent qualities, one’s true potential. An interesting and pertinent development is very recent research which draws on both psychology and Buddhist thought in order to understand individual happiness. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of enduring happiness that integrates these different approaches. To do this, it is necessary to modify the happiness formula and interpret it somewhat differently than psychologists have. The modified happiness formula is: H = S + UC + E where H is an individual’s enduring happiness; S is an individual’s set point, one’s inherited disposition to happiness; UC is the contribution to happiness made by the relatively utilitarian or hedonic aspects of an individual’s circumstances; and E is the contribution to happiness made by the eudaimonic aspect of life. According to Buddhism, ordinary people typically suffer from a number of types of imbalance, and thus experience some degree of unhappiness. An important implication of the model is that people can improve their H through efforts to remedy their imbalances, thereby raising the eudaimonic component of their H. The UC and E variables reflect how much the individual (or the individual’s community and society) has invested in tangible assets and intangible capital that contribute to his/her happiness.