Wise Desire-Priorities: Hedonism or Moral Integrity?

Abstract

Although there are several philosophical theories about what constitutes 'good life', few focuses on which type of desires pay off for those who entertain them. We therefore investigate empirically how people prioritize among desires through a global assessment of what lives they most want to live. In the current study (N = 154), we presented them with 26 questions about the type of life they could find desirable. Structural Equation Modeling revealed systematic differences in how a hedonistic attitude and an attitude of moral integrity differently predicted desires towards life. And as older participants tended to be less supportive of hedonistic attitudes, our results argue against hedonism.

Exploring Responses to Body Weight Criticism: Defensive Avoidance When Weight Is Seen as Controllable

“…The societal norm that a thin body weight or one in the “normal” range is healthy and under one’s control unfairly portrays people living with overweight and obesity as a living, walking illustration of a moral failure. A core element of moralization is that the desired personal characteristic—in this case, a body weight that conforms to society’s standards—is perceived as controllable, and thus reflects the moral quality of effort ( Weiner, 2001 ; Täuber, 2018 ), and self-control ( Salthe and Gausel, 2014 ). The societal belief that weight is controllable, and overweight thus reflects a lack of morality through failure of effort and self-control, is shared not only by the wider population, but has also been internalized by people living with obesity ( Duarte et al, 2014 ; Täuber et al, 2018 ) 1 .…”