Back to Aristotle? Explorations of Objective Happiness

This paper provides an analytical assessment of measuring experienced utility: a research program that leading expert Daniel Kahneman recently stated to have abandoned. My analysis follows four steps. First, I propose a literature review of twenty years of experienced utility measurement. Second, I consider several philosophical issues that Benthamian hedonism may be a problem for public policy. Third, I provide a philosophical discussion of all the axioms of experienced utility measurement, arguing that many of them suffer from important theoretical issues. Finally, I show that maximising individuals’ moment utilities is based on a misconception of happiness that economists and policymakers have good reason to stay aware from. The bottom line is if economists and policymakers seek to improve their understanding on measuring objective happiness, Aristotle’s eudaimonism may provide a more convincing account of objective happiness that palliates some of the issues of Bentham’s hedonistic reductionism