<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Friendship and happiness are intimately connected. According to a recent account provided in Leibowitz (2018) friendship contributes to happiness because friends value each other and communicate this valuation to each other, which increases their self-worth, and this in turn increases their happiness. In this paper I argue that Leibowitz’s account of how friendship contributes to happiness is mistaken. I first present Leibowitz’s view, and then argue against it. I have two main worries with his account. One worry is that increase in self-worth is not characteristic of friendship and hence it is problematic to use it for explaining the connection between friendship and happiness. The other worry is that the distinctive way in which increase in self-worth contributes to happiness seems to be in an important way different from the distinctive way in which friendship contributes to happiness. Finally, I point to what I take to be the right direction in explaining the connection between friendship and happiness.</p></abstract>

Friendship and happiness are intimately connected. According to a recent account provided in Leibowitz (2018) friendship contributes to happiness because friends value each other and communicate this valuation to each other, which increases their self-worth, and this in turn increases their happiness. In this paper I argue that Leibowitz’s account of how friendship contributes to happiness is mistaken. I first present Leibowitz’s view, and then argue against it. I have two main worries with his account. One worry is that increase in self-worth is not characteristic of friendship and hence it is problematic to use it for explaining the connection between friendship and happiness. The other worry is that the distinctive way in which increase in self-worth contributes to happiness seems to be in an important way different from the distinctive way in which friendship contributes to happiness. Finally, I point to what I take to be the right direction in explaining the connection between friendship and happiness.

How Friendship doesn’t Contribute to Happiness: A Reply to Leibowitz

Disputatio

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"How Friendship doesn\u2019t Contribute to Happiness: A Reply to Leibowitz"}

Friendship and happiness are intimately connected. According to a recent account provided in Leibowitz (2018) friendship contributes to happiness because...

How Friendship doesn’t Contribute to Happiness: A Reply to Leibowitz

Published Online: Jul 15, 2020

Page range: 121 - 136

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/disp-2020-0005

Keywords
Friendship, happiness, self-worth, intrinsic value, instrumental value

© 2020 Diana Sofronieva, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

How Friendship doesn’t Contribute to Happiness: A Reply to Leibowitz

Published Online: Jul 15, 2020

Page range: 121 - 136

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/disp-2020-0005

KeywordsFriendship, happiness, self-worth, intrinsic value, instrumental value

© 2020 Diana Sofronieva, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Friendship, happiness, self-worth, intrinsic value, instrumental value