幸福作为目的的客观实现——兼论经验社会科学的幸福

Happiness as the Objectively Achieved Telos——A Reply to the Studies of Happiness in Social Sciences

幸福作为生活之目的是指什么?它本质上是一种完全主观的感觉或情绪,还是一种欲望的满足?对幸福的追问是否可以理解为对于人生终极目的或最值得过的生活方式的探究?对于这些问题,当今很多专注于幸福问题的经验社会科学研究都屈从于神经生理学对于人性的解释,试图撇开古典希腊哲学的贡献而一方面将幸福的本质规定为"笑脸般的感觉"和"欲望满足";另一方面则否认幸福与个人的整个生活有一种本质联系,否认它可以被理解为一种关乎个人的目的的客观实现。在新技术推波助澜之下生成的这种关于幸福的新解释对我们严肃地思考幸福生活有何帮助,有没有比这更好、更正确的关于幸福本质的解释,这些问题都值得我们认真考察与反思。

What is happiness as the telos of life?Is it essentially a completely subjective feeling or emotion,or should be defined as the desire-satisfaction?Can we understand an inquiry into the nature of happiness as an investigation into the ultimate aim of life or the most worthy way of life?Today among the empirical social science researchers who focus on the issue of happiness,a lot of them succumb to the neurophysiological explanations of human nature,and try to put aside the contributions of Classical Greek philosophy.They,on the one hand,define happiness as 'smileyface feeling'and 'desire-satisfaction';on the other hand,deny that happiness has essential connections with the entire life and refuse to recognize that it can be understood as an objective achievement of personal aims.The questions whether this new approach of interpreting happiness based on the new technology is helpful in the serious thought about our happy lives and whether there is a better,more accurate explanation of the nature of happiness,are worthy of serious study and reflections.