Graduation Year
2021
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Rivka Weinberg
Reader 2
Julie Tannenbaum
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
Some philosophers think that one’s well-being increases when one obtains more objective goods, and one of those objective goods under debate is one’s narrative. In this thesis, I examine how one’s narrative can increase one’s well-being by itself by drawing from David Velleman’s argument for narrative value. After finding Velleman’s argument compelling, I clarify what a narrative is, including how it has an objective and subjective component. I then explore what criteria are necessary for one’s narrative to make a positive contribution to one’s well-being by presenting Connie Rosati’s argument that one’s narrative needs to be chosen or internalized, affirming, and make one’s failings nearly irrelevant. I add the necessary condition that a narrative needs to be true for it to increase one’s well-being. Finally, after rejecting irreplaceability as necessary for a meaningful narrative, I draw from Antti Kauppinen’s account of a meaningful narrative to argue that meaning is necessary for a narrative to increase one’s well-being.
Recommended Citation
Fu, Franchesca, "Narrative Value and Well-Being" (2021). Scripps Senior Theses. 1611.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1611
