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LINK TO THE LAST CONFERENCE
Heirs of what? It is our convintion that the eitheenth Italian tradition
of “pubblica felicità”, based on the strict connection between happiness
and sociality, has something important to say to contemporary social
theory once again open to this concept, old and always new.
After two centuries of
“dismal science”, recently studies into the so-called “paradoxes of
happiness” have brought the issue of subjective well-being to the
attention of many social scientists. The paradoxes of happiness are many,
not only that of Easterlin, but also that emphasised first by Aristotle
and nowadays by Martha Nussbaum, that emerges when we consider that true
happiness needs interpersonal relationships, and for this reason happiness
is vulnerable and fragile. Happiness is paradoxical because the paradox is
imbedded in the core of interpersonal relationships.
The starting question of
HEIRs intellectual project is: “Why is it that economic science,
which began as a contribution to the public happiness and well-being of
the individual and the nations, nowadays gives so little attention to
interpersonal (genuine) relationships”. In fact, everyone could easily
agree upon the fact that our happiness or unhappiness depend mostly upon
the quality of the relationships that we either build or don’t build with
the people around us. In spite of all this, and in startling contrast to
the other social sciences which give a central role to the analysis of
sociality, economics believed and still believes it can stay away from the
realm of non-instrumental human relationships.
The interpretative key
for our challenge lies in understanding the interconnection between
individual and public happiness, persuaded that individual happiness
embodies a public element, reciprocity.
Our approach in lancing
HEIRs project is distant from the many economists who are currently
writing on the economics of happiness, invading the fields of art,
politics, the family and religion, and thus attracting accusations of
imperialism. Instead, our approach is to apply the instruments and logic
of economic theory to the study of subjective well-being or happiness.
Instead of dealing with “economics and happiness”, we will analyze
on the one hand the typical economic dynamics which influence human
happiness, and on the other, how feeling happy or unhappy effect economic
performance.
In particular, we intend
to follow the following strands of research:
a. Monitoring the current
theoretical debates on Economics and Happiness;
b. Retracing the vicissitudes of
the idea of happiness in economics, with a special eye for the Italian and
Latin tradition;
c. Contribution towards a
relational theory of happiness, based on relational goods and reciprocity;
d. Fostering interdisciplinary
workshops and seminars in order to develop the research project. In March
2003 Milano-Bicocca has organized the Conference “The Paradoxes of
Happiness in Economics”,
that has been the starting point of this research project. Two forthcoming
seminars are:
i.
“Happiness, economics, and interpersonal
relationships"
Trento (Italy), 3-4
December 2004”
ii.
“2nd Workshop on Capabilities and
Happiness”, Milan 16-18 June 2005
Anyone interested in dialoguing with us, can e-mail to:
happiness.conference@unimib.it
HEIRs Scientific
committee:
Pier Luigi Porta,
Milano-Bicocca
Stefano Bartolini,
Università di Siena
Luigino Bruni,
Milano-Bicocca
Maurizio Pugno,
Università di Trento.
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