Resonance and Psychic Affirmation: A Comparison of Hartmut Rosa's and Daniel Haybron's Conceptions of Human Happiness

ABSTRACT The paper compares Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory of “the good life” and Daniel Haybron's psychic affirmation theory of “happiness,” which he differentiates, as a descriptive notion, from “well‐being” as an evaluative notion. Haybron suggests that a central determinant of happiness has to be the somewhat reliable occurrence of positive affective states, in a nonevaluative sense of “positive.” Haybron's own explication comprises three “happiness‐constituting” dimensions: attunement, engagement, endorsement (which together make up the psychological state he calls “psychic affirmation”). But these notions are phenomenologically underdeveloped, and inept to provide a systematic explication of (nonevaluative) affective “positivity.” This can be provided with the concept of resonance. Furthermore, resonance can figure as explication of another important concept Haybron develops in his account of happiness: the “centrality” or “profundity” of affective states with regard to happiness. Overall, the concept of resonance can be inserted into Haybron's account of happiness, as an explication of the actual content of positive affective states. The notion of happiness as psychic affirmation, in turn, can provide a more detailed account of the structure of happiness over longer stretches of time. On this long‐term structural level, the notions of “dispositional resonance” and “resonance trust/confidence” are situated, which may be more precisely explicated through Haybron's framework. Moreover, the complementarity of resonance and psychic affirmation theory does not only seem fruitful on a theoretical and conceptual level, but also with regard to practical and political concerns. The two conceptions of happiness may help to unfold new motivational potentials complementing normatively inclined arguments in favor of greater social equality, as well as less severe status competition and consumption orientation.