Journal of Paychogy ad Cty [Copyright 2015 Chron Ascoratin for Psyche Sos Aristotle, Aquinas, and Seligman. on Happiness Christopher Kaczor Princeton University / Loyola Marymount University, What exacily is happiness? Ancient philosophers ce Avistotle and medieval theoloy ans Like Thomas Aquinas have wrestled with this perennial question. A leading figure of contemporary positive psychology, Martin Seligman (2011, proposes that happiness, which he also calls flourishing and well-being, involves five different elements: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, andl Achievement (PE MA). | consider in this paper how PERMA does and does not accord with the notion of happiness given by Aris- tole (98D and Aquinas (975, 1012, What exactly is happiness? Ancient philoso- phers like Aristotle, medieval theologians like hamas Aquinas, and contemporary psycholo- gists like Martin Seligman have wrestled with this perennial question, In seeking happines myself, I've learned a great deal from all three. I found instructive the ways they accord as well as ways that they differ. It might seem at first silly to try to define happi- “I know it when I feel it,” you might say with some justification, know about our bones, but the systematic study of our bones ean nevertheless he useful, espec ly if something is going wrong with our bones. nes, In a similar way, we A Positive Psychology Framework. for Happiness In his book Flourish: A Visionary New Under- standing of Happiness and Well Being (2011), Martin Seligman that happiness, which he also calls flourishing and well-being, involves five dif- ferent elements: Emotion, Engagement, Relation- ships, Meaning, and Achievement (PERMA) (Seligman 2011), Pach of these five elements con- tributes to human flourishing, and each is chosen by people as an end desired in itself, rather than simply as. The first clement of flourishing is pasttire emo- tions such as joy, delight, warmth, euphoria, and gladness. One element of positive emotion, subjective well being, is how people respond to questions How happy are you right now?" or “How satislied are you with your life?” (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008, p. 4). We can distinguish feelings, our own subjective and means to some further end, uch as Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Christopher Kaczor, Department of Philoso- phy, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045; ckaczor@imu.edu 196 conscious awareness of emotions, from the emotions themselves. We can be having an emotion manifesting itself in our bodies and yet not really feel or consciously realize we have the emotion, as when people say, “I didn't real- ize how happy I was until he walked into the Likewise, our bodily reactions may be expressive of positive emotion, but we might not be (fully) aware of what our emotions are and so not fully) feel our emotions, Positive emotions are the first element in Seligman’s con- ception of flourishing, but other elements also contribute to well-being. ‘The second element is engagement with life Engagement is also known as flow: making use of signature strengths in an activity requiring energized focus on the moment, an activity 1 is neither too difficult nor too easy. Csikszentmi- halyi (1991) understands engagement or flow as involving challenging activity requiring concen- pn_on the present which results in a sense of ‘time stopping’ and a ‘loss of self” Flow can take place in work, hobbies, or sports, such as when the athlete is ‘in the zone’ making use of a signature strength. In Anna Karennina, ‘Tol- stoy describes flow in one character's work: ‘The longer Levin went on mowing, the oftener he experienced those moments of oblivion when his arms no longer seemed to swing the scythe, but the scythe itself his whole body, so conscious and full of life; and as if by magic, regularly and definitely without a thought by plished itself of its own accord. ing given 0 it, the works accom ‘These were blessed moments. (Iol- stoy, 2004, pp. 252-253)Kaczor 197 We can have flow in many different kinds of activities, and flow is part of a happy life. ‘Taking note of human diversity, positive psychologists hold that each person has signature strengths that full under the general categories of wisdom, courage, justice, temperance, transcendence, and humanity (charity). Within each general catego- ry, there are sub-categories that define mote pre- cisely the strength in question, such as creativity, leadership, loving and being loved, open minded ness, teamwork, and kindness. When a person’ makes use of a signature sirength in a challenging activity with energized focus of attention 10 opti mum performance, the person experiences flow or full engagement. The third clement of PERMA, relationships, constitutes another aspect of human flourishing, indeed peshaps the central element, Seligman 01D explains: When asked what, in two words or fewer, positive psychology is about, Christopher Peterson, one of its Other people.” Very little that is positive is solitary When was the last time you laughed uproariously? ‘The last time you felt indescribable joy? ‘The last time you sensed profound meaning and pur- pose? The last time you felt enor- mously proud of an accomplishment? Even without knowing the particu of these high points of your life, know their form: all of them took place around other people. Otber people are the best antidote to the downs of life and the single most reliable up. (p. 20) founders, replied, Positive, loving relationships are an essential part of happiness. Without close, loving, positive relationships, human persons face the likelihood of physical and mental health problems, and undergo a Joss in human flourishing (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). On Seligman’s view, meaning is another part of flourishing. Meaning is understood as belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self” (Seligman 2011, p. 17). Although a person cannot be mistaken’ about 4 purely subjective feeling, it is possible, Seligman holds, to be mistaken about meaning, Pot smoking adolescents may think their mid- night philosophizing was quite meaningful, but when they sober up and grow up, they may come to realize if they listen to a recording of their conversation that nothing meaningful was really said, Likewise, depressive persons like Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill may feel as if their lives are meaningless, but we can rightly judge that they lead meaningful lives. Meaning involves a connection and a contribu tion with something that is larger than the self: family, school, vocation, political party, country, or God, ‘The final element of flourishing on Seligman’s 2011) view is achievement, He says, “Accom- plishment or achievement is often pursued for its sake, even when it brings no positive emo- tion, no meaning, and nothing in the way of pos itive relationships” (p. 21). Accomplishment can he sought via mastering certain skills such playing a complicated song on the piano, run- ning a marathon in under three hours, or learn- ing German, Achievement may also be understood comparatively, such as winning a race, becoming the valedictorian, or making more money than your pets. For Seligman, all five elements are needed for full flourishing, all can be desired as ends in themselves, and all can be quantifiably mea- sured. Positive emotions are important for hap- pines, but a person's happiness is augmented if they not only are experiencing positive emotions but are also engaged in meaningful work and achievement. Not just subjective experience but objective reality is relevant for flourishing in Seligman’s (2011) understanding: Engagement, meaning, relationships, and accomplishment have both sub- jective and objective components, since you can believe you have ement, meaning, good rela- and high accomplishment and be wrong, even deluded, The upshot of this is that well-heing can- not exist just in your own head well-being is a combination of feel- ing good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships, and hment, (p. 25) accom Flow-making use of signature strengths is relevant because part of what people want out of life is not just feeling a certain way, but also engage- ment with life. An illusion could generate feel- ings, but an illusion does not involve engaigement with (real) life, Similarly, actually having good relationships and accomplishing something (real)198 Harps is not merely a subjective feeling, It is hard to imagine a flourishing human life without some element of each aspect of PERMA: Positive emo- tion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement, How does the PERMA conception of flourishing compare with the ideas put forwarcl by two of the preeminent philosophers of happt- ness, Aristotle and Aquinas? PERMA in the Context of Aristotle and Aquinas Positive Emotions The importance of emotions is a shared emphasis for positive psychologists and the philosophers of virtue. For Aristotle, eudemonia involves expertencing enjoyment, and the emo- onal life of virtuous persons—what they take pleasure in and what they find painful—con- tributes to their happiness. Likewise, Aquinas devotes a huge section of the moral part of the Summa theologiae to exploring what he calls “the passions” such as love, hatred, delight, sorrow, and fear. Why? Some might he tempted to think that all that really matters, at least morally speaking, are your exterior actions, especially doing your duty, not whether or not you are experiencing certain emotions. Indeed, it might seem that concer for one’s own emotions is a selfish preoccupa tion in tension with the demands of duty under- stood as an altruistic regard for others, Zagano and Gillespie (2006) express this concern, *Posi- tive Psychology can appe: selE-serving process aimed simply at obtaining and interpersonal happiness” (p.50). 1 used to think that, ethically speaking at least, all that really matters is doing your duty and that emotions were insignificant and irrelevant. While it is true that what we do is vitally important for our own happiness as well as the others, T now think that it is a mistake (© behitle the importance of emotions and feelings for the moral life. When we feel upset, depressed, sad, and angry, it is still possible to do the right thing, but doing the right thing while experiencing such emotions becomes immensely more difficult When we feel bad, we des are 1s a self-seeking and appiness of ire to alleviate our badd feelings, and this can lead us to aet against what we Know is right (McGonigal, 2012). We have a moral responsibility to avoicl, inse ably possible, putting ourselves in occasions of wrongdoing, Since negative emotions are often an as reason ‘occasions of doing wrong, our moral responsibili- ties include a concern for our emotional life, As negative emotions can draw us to doing wrong, positive emotions can draw us outwards towards connecting and contributing to others As Gretchen Rubin points out, “studies show that happier people are more likely to help other people. ‘They ate mote interested in social prob- lems. They do more volunteer work and con- tribute more to charity” (Rubin, 2009, p. 215). It is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that our own happiness is necessarily set in opposition to the well-being of others, for often our positive emo- tions help us to be our best selves for others. In addition, the duty to love our neighbor ourselves le: tions, We would! all prefer to experience positive emotions rither than negative emotions. When we experience negative emotions, it affects all those with whom we have contact. Just as we can transmit a contagious disease to other peo- ple, so too through emotional contagion, we influence (positively or negatively) all those around us (Hatfield, Cacioppo, Rapson, 1993). Emotions also matter morally because we have a moral duty to take care of our own health which is damaged by chronic negative emotions Since our emotions greatly influence the emo- tions of othets, we are also negatively of posix tively influencing the health of others in our life. Finally, our emotions also matter because our emotions can king, When we are upset, for example, when we are in a “fight or flight” mode, we cannot think as clear- when we are in a “calm and connect” mode. Since practical wisdom is needed in order to act well, we have good teason to cultivate positive emotion, As Fredrickson (2013) points out: Js to.a concer about our own emo- (ort or enhance our The tightly controlled laboratory experiments ...convincingly reveal that the scope of your awareness changes dramatically over time, depending on your current emotional state, Your awareness narrows with negative emotions and breaclens with positive ones, It is when feeling good, then, that you're best equipped to sce holistically and come up with creative and prac problems you and others are facing, Your wisdom, then, ebbs and flows just as your emotions do. Let's face it, you're just not able to access and al solutions to the