New philosophical theory of personal well-being introduced in latest ‘Oxford Handbook’

LAWRENCE — Many metrics have been developed that seek to measure well-being, including the renowned Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). It assesses overall quality of life based on five simple questions, such as: “So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.”

“Those measures are useful, and they’ve shown us some important things, but they’re sort of neutral on the nature of well-being itself. We’ve tried to come up with a more useful framework for thinking about what well-being is,” said Jason Raibley, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas.

This goal is achieved in a new chapter titled “Value Fulfillment and the Prudential Good” that describes a theory of personal well-being. The authors propose that the most essential building block of well-being is having and then realizing personal values through one’s own agency. The chapter is published in “The Oxford Handbook of Normative Ethics.”

“We aimed for a new way of thinking built on empirical research but that would also spur psychologists and economists to take more integrative approaches,” said Raibley, who co-wrote the chapter with Valerie Tiberius of the University of Minnesota. “If we’re right about what well-being really is, then none of those extant measures is the whole story.”

Older theories about the nature of well-being have problems, according to Raibley. For example, personal wealth is correlated with life-satisfaction and positive emotions.

He said, “It sometimes causes well-being. But you can use money in different ways. You could take it to the casino, or use it to buy a status symbol or spend it on a vacation with your family. If traditional theories like hedonism or preference-satisfaction were true, all three could be equally good for you. However, that doesn’t turn out to be true, even using the current metrics.”

Raibley and Tiberius hope their theory about the nature of well-being can explain why. They propose well-being means having things you care about in a wholehearted or unconflicted way. These might include activities, relationships, pastimes or ideals you enjoy and are motivated to pursue.

“We say it is directly good for you to prize things in this unconflicted way so that your motivations, judgments and affective feedback are ‘aligned,’” he said. “Having values is important. But so is realizing them. And realizing the things you care about over time, that’s a complicated process. It turns out to involve a whole network of traits and skills as well as positive relationships with others. Functioning agency has its own dynamics, and that’s part of why going to the casino is a bad idea.”

Raibley notes how jobs that involve personal status-seeking — like being a hotshot attorney or social media influencer — tend to leave people less fulfilled and more anxious and exhausted.

“With the pursuit of values, there’s a whole series of steps involved. But you may not be inherently motivated to do each of those steps,” he said. “You also may not be able to pause to enjoy it. You might be banking a lot of money and resources and relationships, but you might not have time to hang out with those people or spend that money.”

Instead, Raibley said he believes individuals need to pick values that suit their own personal temperament and make sense given their resources, background and cultural environment.

“Finding those things is a big part of the challenge,” he said.

“Psychologists have identified activities that tend to be intrinsically rewarding, such as building relationships with family members, gardening, sports, art, creative work, learning, playing instruments or being active in a volunteer capacity. If you have a life that makes enough time for those aspects — or where maybe your job involves some of the activities that connect you to personally meaningful things — that’s really about as good as you can hope for.”

Now in his seventh year at KU, Raibley focuses his research on ethical and political theory, specializing in well-being, metaethics, medical ethics and political philosophy. The Indiana native first became interested in the concept of well-being while attending graduate school.

“I took several courses with a professor, Gary Matthews, who was an expert on Plato and Aristotle, as well as St. Augustine and Heidegger. He covered a lot of ground. And his seminar on Aristotle’s ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ started the wheels turning in my head,” Raibley said. “Aristotle says well-being is not a state but an ‘energeia,’ a process or activity. That stuck with me.”

Now Raibley said he is appreciative of being able to add his own philosophy to the literature informing this topic.

“Our article appears in a pretty prominent collection,” he said.

“It’s at least planting a flag where our approach will get mentioned alongside the other major traditions of thinking about well-being and value in general.”