The objective of this thesis is to analyse the evolution of the concept of pleasure in the literature and the history of ideas of the beginning of the 18th Century in France, through the study of the upheaval of sensibility carried out by Prevost's worried hedonism. In order to better understand the progressive transition of the semantic and lexicological concept of pleasure in the theoritical literature, we examine the philosophical and moral treaties on pleasure as well as the definitions found in the dictionnaires of the time. The study then focuses on two novels by Prevost: L'Histoire du chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut and L'Histoire d'une Grecque moderne. These novels stage two experiences of pleasure which contribute to shape a new architecture of man characterised by instability and inconsistance. Prevost's hedonism redefines the position of the social, moral and psychological being according to certain features which lead to a particular aesthetic of disharmony.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, 1983. / "Münchener Universitätsschriften. Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät"--P. 2. Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. [13]-25).

Covid-19 has affected people’s lives due to the restrictions and recommendations. The Swedish public health authority urged the residents to abstain from being in indoor environments such as stores, therefore is the action seen as a misbehaviour. Meanwhile, city centres are dying, therefore are the consumers facing a difficult dilemma. The purpose of the present thesis was to investigate why consumers chose to shop in PRS during the pandemic and how the behaviour was justified. The thesis was written from a consumer's perspective and focuses on generation Z. The theoretical framework was based on hedonic and utilitarian motivations, which explains the consumers' motivation to shop in PRS while the Neutralization theory explains how the actions were justified. A qualitative study was used, and the empirical data was collected through a time- and event-contingent diary design. 17 participants were chosen through a convenience sample. A combination between three theories map out how consumers reasoning throughout the process. The findings showed that the pandemic had an impact on consumers behaviour and that both hedonic and utilitarian motivations affect consumer intentions to shop in PRS. The findings also showed that consumers frequently justified their action by referring to the fact that the restrictions and recommendations were followed. We also found a pattern on how different motivations are justified similarly.

The technological evolution of the past century has exceeded all expectations and would have been impossible to predict 100 years ago. The same might be true of trying to predict the outcome of today’s technological developments that are still in their early stages. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a popular subject for predictions; experts are both pessimistic and optimistic about the outcome of AI development. There is a possibility that AI in the course of things becomes fully integrated into our everyday lives and ends up being a fundamental part of human civilization. This thesis examines a set of problems that arise in certain possible future AI scenarios. If an AI reaches superintelligence, it is reasonable to suggest that potentially it would have the possibility to improve our society in many ways.  This essay considers what impact a particular range of kinds of AI intervention would have on human well-being. There is no philosophical consensus on the right account of well-being, and that limits the scope and force of this study. In that sense, it should be seen as a point of departure for future research on how different accounts of well-being cash out in the AI scenarios under consideration. The approach taken here is mainly to focus on what happens in the AI scenario with theories of well-being that have achievement as a basic and fundamental component. The central discussion in sections 3-4 concerns that. I give a cursory overview of other influential accounts of well-being in section 2, in order to explain why achievement-including views are taken seriously.

No description available.

Throughout life, man seems to seek a happy life, which seems to be something more than a static feeling of pleasure. Life is something we create and form ourselves and due to this our welfare can go better or worse. Virtue Ethics asserts that we, through actions and disposition, can form our life and that ethics gives guidance on how to do it. Something that also calls for rational consideration. Happiness and virtue, two terms that we, during life, learn to understand and act in union with. Rather than something static or simply theoretical, the terms are practical and therefore demand skill and practice. Happiness includes certain actions, something virtue ethics give guidance in. In this way the two terms are connected and share nature. I will, during this paper, argue that virtue ethics gives a better picture, and is a necessary part, of happiness, which is in opposition to the hedonic claim that happiness is pleasure.

This dissertation is structured in such a way as to gradually home in on the true theory of welfare. I start with the whole field of possible theories of welfare and then proceed by narrowing down the options in a series of steps. The first step, undertaken in chapter 2, is to argue that the true theory of welfare must be what I call a partly response independent theory. First I reject the entirely response independent theories because there are widely-shared intuitions suggesting that some psychological responses are indeed relevant to welfare. Then I reject the entirely response dependent theories because there are other central intuitions suggesting that our welfare is not determined solely by our psychological responses. Thus I reach the preliminary conclusion that welfare must involve some response independent (or objective) component. The next step is to consider the most promising theories in the partly response independent category. In particular, I formulate, refine and ultimately reject what seem to be the main monistic theories that have been proposed in this category. In chapter 4, I reject the Adjusted-Enjoyment Theories of Welfare because they cannot account for the claim that a life containing no pleasure or pain can still contain a positive amount of welfare (e.g. if it’s a particularly successful life). Then in chapters 5-7, I discuss Desire Satisfaction theories of welfare. I argue that even the most promising of these theories – e.g. Worthiness Adjusted Desire Satisfactionism – are problematic because they cannot accommodate the claim that a life containing no success with respect to worthwhile projects can still contain a positive amount of welfare (e.g. if it’s a particularly pleasant life). Finally, I suggest that in order to accommodate the intuitions that led to the rejection of all these other theories of welfare, what is needed is a multi-component theory. In the final chapter, I formulate a multi-component theory that is particularly promising. Not only does it avoid the problems of the monistic theories discussed earlier, but, by incorporating a number of novel mathematical devices, it avoids problems that undermine several other initially promising multi-component theories of welfare.

No description available.

We live in an experience economy where a lot of value creation rests on the consumption of hedonic experiences. Today, such experiences are at the crux of many consumption choices. Hence, setting up an environment to foster positive hedonic consumption experiences is of high relevance and importance to consumers and marketers alike. To contribute to our understanding of how such experiences interact with the marketplace, this doctoral dissertation presents two essays on how consumption experiences can be elevated. The first essay proposes a novel theory of a particular mindset, the Consummatory Mindset, which contributes to the elevation of consumers’ enjoyment of hedonic experiences. In this essay, taking a grounded theory approach, I phenomenologically describe and conceptualize three fundamental pillars of the consummatory mindset: acceptance of the experience, mental readiness, and a felt permission to enjoy the experience. Subsequently, across three empirical studies, I experimentally manipulate two of these pillars and provide preliminary evidence in support of the mindset, demonstrating that this mindset may lead to an enhanced enjoyment of consumption experiences. In a second essay that complements the first, I investigate the psychological factors that elevate a hedonic consumption experience into one that is “special.” Given that all else being equal, marketplace experiences that consumers deem special are likely to be seen as more valuable, thereby creating greater customer value, it is in marketers’ interest to make certain consumption experiences special. In my second essay, across five studies, I synthesize insights from an analysis of numerous consumer informant narratives and depth interviews, a field survey, natural language processing of more than four million Yelp reviews, a pre-registered experimental test of the major pillars of special consumption experiences, and an experimental analysis of Instagram posts. The findings converge in identifying three main psychological pillars of what makes consumption experiences special, each with multiple facets: (a) uniqueness (defined by the rarity, novelty, personalization, exclusivity, surpassing of expectations, and ephemerality facets of the experience); (b) meaningfulness (based on the significance of the experience in relation to symbolic importance, relationships, identities, and personal transformations); and (c) authenticity (regarding perceived genuineness and realness, in light of the source, presentation, and prototypicality of the experience). The findings have substantive business implications for the engineering of hedonic consumption experiences.

No description available.