Qiannan Li

A comprehensive theory of well-being should be capable of distinguishing between adaptive preferences that are consistent with flourishing and those that are inconsistent. While both objective and subjective theories of well-being differ in their explanations for the prudential disvalue of certain adaptive preferences, their analysis mostly focuses on the problematic content of such preferences. That is, they consider whether the fulfillment of such preferences contributes to a flourishing life. When analyzing the prudential value of the adaptive preference formation process, the predominant accounts often concentrate on determining whether the adaptive preference is rational or not, and whether the autonomy of an agent is being undermined or valued. Nevertheless, the rationality of preferences and the value of autonomy cannot fully encompass the prudential considerations of the adaptive preference formation process. In this essay, I employ a Zhuangzi-inspired conception of flourishing as a transformative agent to illustrate that we can differentiate between a positive adaptation process and a negative one, regardless of the resulting preferences’ contents. On this account, flourishing as a transformative agent means thriving without committing to an entrenched conception of a good life, but rather consistently engaging in the process of determining what a good life looks like for a transformative and developing self. On this view, some adaptive preferences are detrimental to individuals not only due to their problematic contents, but also because they reflect a dominating and/or alienating relationship between the agent and their conception of the good, impeding a person's ability to flourish as a transformative being.

This essay challenges the dominant Western model of affective flourishing, which emphasizes regulating emotions through cognitive control and evaluative judgment. Drawing on Zhuangzi’s Daoist philosophy, I propose a Zhuangzi-inspired account centered on two interrelated strategies: a restrictive approach, which highlights the self-regulating nature of emotions when left undisturbed, and a positive approach, which focuses on cultivating existential feelings—pre-reflective orientations that shape emotional experience. Rather than disciplining emotions, Zhuangzi advocates a stance of attunement, allowing emotions to flow naturally in harmony with the Dao. Through close analysis of key passages—such as ‘fasting of the mind’ and ‘following what-is-so-of-itself’—I argue that a Zhuangzi-inspired account of emotion regulation rejects rigid emotional hierarchies and coercive regulation. Instead, the sage’s distinctive affective life emerges from existential feelings nurtured through a non-interventionist engagement with the world.

Everyone wants to be happy. Happiness is obviously a good thing and if we can get it without sacrificing other important things, we would. Most people wish not just for their own happiness but also the happiness of people they love; some compassionate souls may even wish for the happiness of all sentient creatures. What exactly is it that we all want? Is it to be pleased or satisfied? To feel tranquil or joyous? To attain certain objective goods? And what role does happiness play in morality? Is the production of happiness the goal of morally right action? Is it the organizing principle of moral theory? Or is it just one contingent value among many? This entry reviews answers to these questions from the perspectives of ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophy.

According to Tom Roberts and Joel Krueger's frustrated pro-attitude account of loneliness, loneliness is primarily characterized as an affective state in which individuals perceive certain social goods as unattainable. The frustration of pro-attitudes, or the desire for social connections, plays a significant role in understanding the nature of loneliness. However, in this article, I argue that the frustrated pro-attitude account falls short in explaining a specific type of loneliness known as clueless loneliness, wherein a person feels lonely without experiencing a salient frustration of pro-attitude. By analyzing five cases of clueless loneliness—the case of desiring the wrong thing, the case of failing to form concrete desires, the case of having an illusion of desire fulfillment, the case of holding self-deceptive beliefs about need fulfillment, and the case of lacking a desire for social goods—I propose a revised account that acknowledges the complexity of loneliness and the potential disconnect between perceived social goods and the actual fulfillment of one's need for connection. My objective in this article is to demonstrate that this revised understanding of loneliness provides a more comprehensive framework for examining the nature of loneliness and its impact on different groups of people within society.

In this article, I argue that the current literature on political hope overlooks its non-instrumental value. By proposing a Kant-inspired account of treating reasonable hopes as fundamental hopes, I argue that it is rational for people to hold certain political hopes not only because such hopes promote particular ends but also because they are constitutive of a person’s practical identity as a responsible political agent with limited power to make changes. This view reveals that victims of injustice face an affective injustice because the unjust social system forces them to face a double bind in upholding their fundamental political hopes.

The notion of respect is central to many moral requirements in daily life. In the Western philosophical tradition, there is a tendency to explore the nature of respect based on the nature of the object of respect. The Kantian account of respect for the moral law is one representative of this approach. In contrast, the classical Confucian notion of jing 敬 not only has a meaning similar to the Western notion of respect but also emphasizes the value of having a respectful state of mind. Both Sin Yee Chan and Pengbo Liu argue that jing, the Confucian conception of respect, has significant theoretical and practical value for obtaining an adequate understanding of the role of respect in moral life (Chan 2006, Liu 2019). However, their discussions primarily focus on the distinction between Western and Eastern views of respect. In this essay, I will focus on revealing the theoretical and practical value of combining the two perspectives on respect. I aim to demonstrate that by borrowing insights from each side, we will gain a deeper understanding of the nature of respect and what it requires in terms of proper treatment of other individuals.