ABSTRACT

The emotional state theory of happiness is a relative newcomer to the philosophy of happiness. Developed by Dan Haybron, the emotional state theory presents an alternative to hedonism and raises important questions regarding the overall nature and phenomenology of happiness. Yet it also introduced reasons for thinking there may be more to happiness than feeling good. Feeling good is great, but it is also sometimes fleeting, unstable, and somewhat shallow. One way to understand the difference between shallow affective states, which might feel good but lack any sustaining impact on one's happiness, and deeper affective states, which Haybron takes to be happiness-constituting, is in terms of the difference between central and peripheral affective states.