ABSTRACT
The pragmatic philosophical task is to explain how desires may make us happy, and why anxiety and unhappiness are anomalies. From a pragmatic point of view, people need to indicate a rational and honest way to a happy life, which, hopefully, is free of disappointment and anxiety. The relevant feelings are a kind of extra component of the happiness ascriptions based on some real-life pragmatic considerations. The method of betterment requires a dialectical rule of adjustment, as well as a pair of standards of evaluation focusing on the practicality and rationality, or short- and long-term viability, of desire. Desire tracks satisfaction and, consequently, personal gratification, which implicates happiness related considerations. The key lesson is that one can find gratification and happiness through desire. Regular gratification patterns mean happiness—at least to some degree.
