Well‐being, Part 2: Theories of Well‐being

Abstract

Theories of well‐being purport to identify the features of lives, and of intervals within lives, in virtue of which some people are high in well‐being and others are low in well‐being. They also purport to identify the properties that make some events or states of affairs good for a person and other events or states of affairs bad for a person. This article surveys some of the main theories of well‐being, with an emphasis on work published since the turn of the century.