Chapter 6

 In chapter 6, I agree with Haybron, "whatever else self-fulfillment involves, I would suggest it includes authentic happiness. Perhaps it also involves success in the things you care about- the values or commitments that shape your identity." In chapter 6 he mentions how parents tend to say that all they care about is that their child is happy but then he asks if that is truly the only thing of importance that a parent should wish upon their child's life. I can relate to this as I often say that I only wish for my child to be happy and healthy. He then asks what it means to thrive or flourish. And reminds us that well-being should not be confused with happiness or one's emotional state. Instead of looking at why happiness is not well-being as in some of the earlier chapters, he instead is looking at why well-being cannot merely just result from being happy. He then delivers three cases that create a problem in that consideration. The three cases that he mentions are deception, impoverishment, and deprivation. He is basically saying that if your happiness is based on a lie then you're not doing too well,and even if you feel like you're happy with living an unproductive life then again you are not too well off, and if you are deprived of things that are considered in conjunction with a full well lived life then even if you consider those aspects that you were deprived of as unimportance within your happiness then you still cannot chalk that up to well-being (for instance people who are born with disabilities that restrict them from the same human experiences of others.) He then talks about what ultimately benefits people and notes that Aristotle accredited well-being with a "complete life of virtuous activity." He says that Aristotle did not simply view this as moral virtue but actually as basically human excellence. Basically that you strive for and achieve to do your best in whatever you choose to do- not someone who just lives from day to day and strives for nothing. But then goes on to say that Aristotle's view has some objective facts about what's good for you and don't rely fully on what a person likes or cares about. And says that many people are not satisfied with that standpoint because they feel as though well-being of an individual should be subjective to that individual. I like that he mentions Ferdinand the ball from the popular children's book because that is one of mine and my son's favorite books. Ferdinand is happy doing things unlike other bulls; it doesn't bother him that he doesn't fit in, because he enjoys being himself and having autonomy over his own life and happiness. Haybron then recaps for the readers what the foremost influential approaches to well-being are:

Hedonism, desire theories, list theories, you the eudaimonistic nature fulfillment theories.

He says that hendonism and Aristotle's nature fulfillment theory are at two opposite ends of the spectrum, as one only takes into account our pleasure, whereas Aristotle theory does not take into account our pleasure at all.

He says that LW Sumner define well-being as authentic happiness- grounded in your own life and reflecting who you truly are as a person. 

He then reiterates that he leans towards the life satisfaction theory and agrees that in self fulfillment, authentic happiness would need to be present.

And as I said I completely agree with him that authenticity of one's happiness definitely matters. And that within the authentic happiness it also matters to be successful in the things that you care about and value, and that make you the person that you are.