Happiness in the normativity structure (part I - Normativity)

Abstract

Pre-Kantian ethics was built on a scheme, according to which a person should do what makes him happy when engaged in practical action. The dispute concerned only the nature of happiness and the nature of man. Kant questioned the justification of human obligation by means of referring to happiness and the theory of naturalistic fallacy. It caused that contemporary normativity theories (apart from utilitarianism only) are based on the principle of separating normativity from happiness, which results in the elimination of the problem of happiness from practical philosophy.

The starting point of the article is the argument in favor of the following critical statements: (a) without reference to happiness, normativity cannot be satisfactorily explained or justified; (b) the utilitarian concept of happiness cannot be used to justify normativity. The first part of the article ends with an outline of the normativity structure with a proposal to answer the question: why should I respect normativity?

The second part of the article presents such a concept of happiness that does not exclude normativity but serves to justify the necessity of its existence instead.. After identifying the designation of the concept of happiness, its core is characterized in the form of euthymia, understood as stable satisfaction with the fact of being a subject. The paper ends with an argument showing the complementarity of happiness and normativity.