Tim Lomas - Happiness

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series

A complete list of books in this series can be found online at https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/mit-press-essential-knowledge-series.

Tim Lomas

The MIT Press | Cambridge, Massachusetts | London, England

2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lomas, Tim, 1979- author.

Title: Happiness / Tim Lomas.

Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2022] | Series: The MIT Press essential knowledge series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021046820 | ISBN 9780262544207 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Happiness.

Classification: LCC BF575.H27 L6528 2022 | DDC 152.4/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046820

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Few experiences are as cherished or sought-after today as happiness. Indeed, analogues and variations of this beneficent state have been a dominant human concern throughout recorded history. Yet few phenomena are also so elusive or poorly understood. Across fields of human endeavorfrom academia to advertisingthe promise of happiness is celebrated and pursued. It remains an opaque and contested notion, however, with little consensus on what it is or how to find it. Compounding the issue, it is often conceptualized via other constructs that are equally vague or contentious, such as well-being. I cannot then be too definitive in defining happiness here at the outset, since this whole book is devoted to exploring its nuances.

Yet one must stake out some territory to get the conversation started at all. So this brief introduction offers some basic orienting definitions to which the book will then bring further complexity. The following articulation is by no means the only way of configuring the ground, and is inevitably influenced by my background as a psychologist situated in the area of positive psychology. Nevertheless, it is commensurate with most of the relevant literature with which Im familiar.

Few phenomena are as sought-after as happiness, yet few are also so elusive or misunderstood. This book summarizes the latest scholarship on happiness, offering an interdisciplinary analysis of this most cherished of experiences.

Well start by considering well-being, which most scholars regard as an overarching concept that includes happiness within it. Broadly speaking, well-being can be defined as including all the manifold ways humans can be, do, and live well (although I shall offer a more comprehensive and technical definition later in the chapter). There are numerous ways of conceptualizing this vast arena, but one effective way is to differentiate it in terms of four distinct ontological dimensions (i.e., with ontology referring to the nature of being): physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

So, we can first differentiate between physical and mental well-being, denoting the state of the body and mind, respectively. I should note, though, that this distinction does not map onto the ontological objective versus subjective dichotomy. This latter binary is a subtly different way of carving up being, distinguishing between phenomena that exist objectively (i.e., as material, physical entities) versus those that exist subjectively (i.e., as qualiaa catch-all term for all conscious experience). In that respect, physical and mental well-being both have objective physiological aspects (how the body and brain are functioning) and subjective phenomenological aspects (how the body and mind are experienced by the person).

Added to these, many theorists emphasize the importance of social well-being, which essentially denotes the quality of ones interpersonal relationships and communities. Its significance is reflected in the World Health Organizations definition of healthunchanged since 1948as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. In addition, some scholars propose that spiritual well-being should be recognized, reflecting the quality of relationship one has with phenomena deemed sacred (such as a god). Admittedly, not all people value such potentials or even hold that they exist, so this dimension may be more speculative and less universal than the others (which are undoubtedly applicable and relevant to all). Still, it is worth considering.

Indeed, these may conceivably not be the only relevant dimensions. Recent years have seen a fascinating debate around the ontological nature of the virtual/digital/online world, for example, both in terms of human beings presence and activity in these spaces (e.g., interacting as avatars), and the phenomena that exist there (e.g., virtual money and tools). It may be that this initial taxonomy will soon need revising to incorporate virtual well-being, especially with people spending increasing amounts of time online, and as the state and impact of these digital worldsnow sometimes called the metaverseare better understood. Or consider the natural environment: human beings are not only impacted by nature, they are part of nature. One could therefore make a good case for identifying an ecological dimension to our existence, hence acknowledging the significance of ecological well-being. This too might one day need adding to the framework here.

For now though, it may be prudent to keep our focus just on the four main dimensions outlined above: physical, mental, social, and spiritual. We can then view all four as arrayed on a spectrum between a negative and positive pole, with a neutral and nominal zero at the midpoint. I will introduce some nuance to this metaphor below, since the notion of these each being a singular continuous and moreover separate spectrum is somewhat misleading; nevertheless, I shall tentatively deploy it for now.