“Felicity” and "Makarismos": Hobbes on Happiness and His Ancient Sources

• In Event: Precedent for the Unprecedented Mini-Conference: Classical Reimaginations: Happiness, Longing, and Political Stability

Abstract

This paper argues that for Hobbes, human happiness is achieved through our recognition of the limitation of the power of every one of us and entering a political society. According to Hobbes, what is good is what one happens to desire, and it vacillates with one’s changing desires. Without a conception of consistent or absolute human good, Hobbes nevertheless has a conception of happiness or a good life which we can find in his definition of “felicity” as continual satisfaction of momentary desires. Scholars take this conception of happiness to confirm their interpretation that the fundamental human pursuit in Hobbes is the pursuit of power after power, as they assume that accumulation of power is the only or best way to achieve continual satisfaction of momentary desires. This paper challenges this reading. Right after presenting his opinion on “felicity” in chapter 6 of Leviathan, Hobbes tells us there is a Greek word “makarismos”—“that whereby they signify the opinion they have of a man’s felicity”, a simple translation of which is “congratulation”. Through examining the cases of “congratulation” in Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Polybius, we see that the ignorant and the proud hold the opinion that happiness is to have ever more wealth and power while the moderate figures, who recognize the power of fortune and the limitation of human power either through wisdom or experience, expose the hubris underlying the understanding of happiness of the ignorant and the proud. As Hobbes calls our attention to these warnings against the hubristic and unrealistic pursuit of happiness as having ever more power, this paper proposes a different reading of the implication of Hobbes’ “felicity”. Continual satisfaction of momentary desires could be achieved by entering a political state where individuals’ desires are coordinated and shaped so that people do not need to overpower others to satisfy themselves.

Author

• Erfan Xia, University of Toronto