What is happiness? What is the good life? How should one live in order to live well? What are the defining characteristics of the good life? For much of the history of thought these questions have been understood as asking the same thing. For some of the ancient Greeks a key question was whether happiness or the good life had to be a morally good life. For instance, Plato is concerned to show through a number of arguments in the Republic that the just (‘‘dikaios’’) or morally good person is also the happy person. And Aristotle, by defining happiness or ‘‘eudaimonia’’ as activity exercising or realizing excellence or virtue, seems to by his definition work in morality as part of the nature of happiness or the good life. These questions – the perennial concern of classical scholars – have in the last 25 years become the subject of debates in contemporary social and political theory as well. Foucault (1986), Taylor (1989), Kekes (1995),Cottingham (1998) and Nehamas (1998) have all stressed the importance of the “artof living” or “caring for the self” in light of contemporary political and economic developments.一个人应该如何生活，为了生活吗？什么是决定性的对美好生活的特点？幸福是什么？什么是好的生活？对于很多思想史的这两个问题已经被理解为问同样的事情。
对于一些古希腊人的一个关键的问题是幸福还是良好的生活是否必须是一个道义上的好生活。
例如，柏拉图关切地显示通过在共和国的只是一个数字的参数（''dikaios''）或道德好人，也是快乐的人。
和亚里士多德，通过定义幸福或''eudaimonia''作为活动行使或实现卓越或美德，似乎被他的道德的定义工作为快乐的天性的一部分还是美好的生活。
这些问题-经典常年关注学者-在过去的25年成为当代辩论的主题社会和政治理论为好。
福柯（1986年），泰勒（1989年），Kekes（1995年），科廷厄姆（1998）和Nehamas（1998）都强调了“艺术的重要性生活中“或”在当代政治和经济的光关爱自我“发展。
The paper starts with a general discussion of the concepts of the good life. I argue that there is a conceptual core of happiness which has to do with one’s life as a whole. I discuss affective andattitude or life satisfaction views of happiness.本文用的概念的一般性讨论开始幸福和美好的生活。
我认为，有一种幸福的概念核心，有一个人的生命作为一个整体的事情。
我讨论情感和幸福的态度或生活满意度的看法，并指出所面临的问题这些看法。
The good life is also a ‘‘big’’ concept. It has a long history. I believe, however, that it is less clear than the concept of happiness. This can perhaps be seen by its easier application to various kinds of things such as a name for a chain of health clubs,advertisements about vacation spots, etc. It is harder to see a conceptual or logical core of it. Nevertheless, it is important for the issues we are studying. Therefore, rather than relying on any kind of shared understanding, some stipulation of how we are using the term will be required. If we understand it to refer to a life that is good for the person who lives it, good as a final value, then we can meaningfully ask whether such a life will be the same as happiness, or whether there may be other things which could be seen as part of the good life, such as rationality and autonomy.美好的生活也是一个'大''的概念。
它有着悠久的历史。
我相信，但是，它比幸福的概念不太清楚。
这也许可以通过它方便的应用到各种事情中可以看出，如健康俱乐部链的名称，关于度假胜地等，这是很难看到它的概念或逻辑的核心广告。
然而，这是我们正在研究的问题的重要。
因此，而不是依靠任何形式的共同理解，我们是如何使用这个词的一些规定是必需的。
如果我们的理解是指生活是好谁住呢，好为最终值的人，那么我们就可以问有意义这样的生活是否会一样的幸福，还是可能有其他东西可以被看作是美好生活的一部分，如合理If we seek to understand what a happy life is, or what makes a life happy, at the outset we should take care to note an ambiguity of th e question ‘‘What is happiness?’’ Sometimes the question is about what is its nature. Sometimes the question is about what its conditions, antecedents, or determinants are, or how it might be brought about (satisfying personal relationships, adequate income, meaningful work, etc.). I wish to focus on the nature of happiness. Some empirical studies of happiness suggest they are providing definitions of happiness, saying what its nature is, when they really are discussing conditions, causes or correlations related to happiness (e.g., people who are relatively more sociable report higher rates of satisfaction with their lives; people who are unemployed report significantly lower rates of satisfaction with their lives, even if they are in a society with social support such that they experience no loss of income).如果我们试图理解什么是幸福生活，或者是什么使一个幸福的生活，从一开始，我们应该小心注意的问题“的模糊性”幸福是什么？“”有时候，一个问题是关于什么是它的本质。
有时候问题是关于它的条件，影响因素和决定因素，或者它如何可能会带来的（满足个人关系，足够的收入，有意义的工作，等等）。
我希望把重点放在幸福的本质。
幸福一些实证研究表明，他们所提供的幸福定义，说什么的自然，当他们真的正在讨论的条件下，导致或与幸福的相关性（例如，人谁是相对与他们的生活满意度的社会性更强的报告率较高;人谁是失业报告显著降低利率满意自己的生活，即使他们是在与社会保障的社会，使他们体验到没有收入的损失）。
I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem . It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. Itbegins with innocent childhood,followed by awkward adolescence trying a wkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, withits young passions and folli es, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature; atmiddle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character li ke the ripening of fruitor the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiri ng of a more tolerant, more cynical andat the same time a kindlier view of li fe; then in the sunset of our life, the endocrine glandsdecrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and cont entment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to w ake up again.我以为，从生物学角度看，人的一生恰如诗歌。