Abstract
In “Happiness Is the Wrong Metric,” Amitai Etzioni argues against the self-satisfier conception of human nature: the view that humans are exclusively motivated by a pursuit of their happiness, where happiness is defined in terms of their satisfactions. The self-satisfier conception is reductionistic and harmful in thinking about good lives, good societies, and sound social policy. In its place Etzioni recommends a moral-wrestler conception of human nature that highlights the pursuit of moral values, especially duties to promote the common good, highlighted in his communitarian ethics, along with the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, his dichotomy between the self-satisfier and moral-wrestler conceptions is itself reductionistic. The moral-wrester conception needs to be broadened into a value-seeker (and value-wrestler) conception of human nature that takes seriously non-moral values, widens morality to include virtues as well as duties, and adopts a more plausible view of happiness.
Similar content being viewed by others
Further Reading
Aristotle 1985. Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Batson, C. D. 1991. The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Baumeister, R. F. 2005. The Cultural Animal: Human Nature, Meaning, and Social Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bortolotti, L. (Ed.). 2009. Philosophy and Happiness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Butler, J. 1964 [1726]. Fifteen Sermons. London: G. Bell and Sons.
Delle Fave, A. (Ed.). 2013. The Exploration of Happiness: Present and Future Perspectives. New York: Springer.
Doris, J. M. 2002. Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Etzioni, A. 2016. Happiness Is the Wrong Metric. Society, 53(2).
Flanagan, O. 1991. Varieties of Moral Personality: Ethics and Psychological Realism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Foot, P. 1978. Virtues and Vices. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Galbraith, J. K. 1976. The Affluent Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Haybron, D. M. 2008. The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hursthouse, R. 1999. On Virtue Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kant, I. 1996. Practical Philosophy, trans. M. J. Gregor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kavka, G. S. 1986. Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kavka, G. S. 1996. The Reconciliation Project. In F. Joel (Ed.), Reason and Responsibility (pp. 623–636). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.
Layard, R. 2005. Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. New York: Penguin.
MacIntyre, A. 2007. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (3rd ed.). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Martin, M. W. 2012. Happiness and the Good Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, M. W. 2016. Memoir Ethics: Good Lives and the Virtues. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Midgley, M. 1995. Beast and Man: The Roots of Human Nature. New York: Routledge.
Mill, J. S. 1979 [1861]. Utilitarianism. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Mill, J. S. 1989 [1873]. Autobiography. New York: Penguin Books.
Nussbaum, M. C. 2011. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rawls, J. 1999. A Theory of Justice, rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Singer, P. 1995. How Are We to Live?: Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest. Amherst: Prometheus Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Martin, M.W. Human Nature and Good Lives: Etzioni’s Elisions. Soc 53, 258–263 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-016-0009-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-016-0009-5