Dissertation progress: Is suffering a lack of well-being?
This has been a profoundly exciting season of research and reflection I’ve had the privilege to engage in. I have so many things I’d like to share, but for this newsletter, I thought I’d give an update on what I’ve been working on related to my account of suffering in my dissertation. This entire academic year I’ve been working on first understanding other philosophers’ accounts of suffering and second identifying where I agree and disagree (and why) to come up with my own account of suffering.
For months, I’ve been leaning toward the idea that when one is not flourishing, then they are suffering. Aside from being attracted to this theory because I think it has much to recommend it, I also like it because it can account for infant suffering, animal suffering, and suffering that occurs but is not experienced, whereas purely experiential accounts of suffering often cannot.[1]
The challenge with going in this direction (academically) is that flourishing is a nebulous concept, and philosophers strive for clarity and cogency in their thoughts and arguments. I’m still attracted to the idea that suffering and flourishing are connected, though, especially because I believe there is a telos (a purpose or goal) to humans—to the entire universe, really, and flourishing seems to imply telos. So, the thought would be that if you are not moving toward the goal (telos) of your humanity, you are not flourishing.[2]
I’ve particularly resonated with Thomas Aquinas’s account of flourishing, which is that human flourishing amounts to union with God primarily and others secondarily. One can quickly see how, if humans were designed to have union with God, then, when we don’t have that, we suffer. This can be for many reasons: perhaps the mere lack of union, which prevents us from experiencing all that comes along with union with God (e.g., peace, perfect love, true joy, being fully known and accepted, etc.), or possibly the consequences which come from choices we make based solely on our own flawed wisdom, knowledge, and desires.
What is fascinating (and encouraging) about this line of thinking is that, when we acknowledge that there is value in suffering, we can quickly see that suffering can lead to—and even be necessary for—flourishing. For example, if humans have a telos—a goal toward which we should be advancing (and, therefore, flourishing) then, if that telos can only be achieved through suffering, then suffering is necessary for flourishing. Consider certain character traits such as forgiveness, patience, kindness, perseverance, and compassion. It is impossible to imagine how any of these could be developed through a life free of suffering.
Further, as we have and will continue to discuss, flourishing in the midst of—not merely after—suffering is also possible. Think about someone (maybe you or someone you know) who has suffered physically with an illness or injury and, as a result, one or more of your relationships deepened in a way it never would have had you not suffered. Perhaps this is due to how they served you, how they entered into your suffering with you by walking in it with you, or any number of other possibilities. In this way, you are flourishing relationally in the midst of suffering in your health.
While there is much to think about and pursue in the suffering-flourishing connection, due to the difficulty in clearly identifying when we shift from flourishing to not flourishing in order to identify if one is, then, suffering, I do not think I’ll go down this road in my dissertation. What I think is more defensible is the claim that if one lacks sufficient intrinsic goods (i.e., goods which produce well-being), then one is suffering.
Just a few examples of intrinsic goods which produce well-being are friendships, mutual love, pleasure, health, and virtue. It is easy to see that if one lacks sufficient health (e.g., if they have a disease or injury), they are suffering. Likewise, if one does not have true friendships or fulfilling relationships. Classifying a lack of pleasure as suffering may initially seem implausible but consider if one has a mundane, monotonous life with almost no pleasure; such a person’s life would range from boring to intolerable, and even boredom is counted by many to be suffering, if it is significant and prolonged. Clearly, if one lacks virtues such as honesty, wisdom, or patience, it is easy to see how suffering might result. So, we can see how, given an insufficient amount of intrinsic goods (which means we would lack well-being in the particular intrinsic good which we lack), we suffer.[3]
I am currently rewriting chapter two of my dissertation with this material in it. I will then submit the draft to my advisor and he, then responds with feedback, we discuss it, and I revise again and re-submit. Given these cycles, I hope to be finished with the first two chapters by the end of the year so I can move on to the “fun stuff” regarding the value of suffering. Stay tuned!
[1] Many statements in what I’ve written here must be greatly expanded upon for a proper defense. Unfortunately, to keep these newsletters as brief as possible, I’ve refrained from doing that here. I may expand on some of these topics in the future but, if you would like additional information on anything I’ve written here, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
[2] Note that I am not arguing that every human’s flourishing is identical. There is a flourishing general to humanity and a flourishing particular to you with your talents, abilities, personality, etc. A helpful way to think about this is to think about plants: an orchid would not flourish in the same conditions as a cactus, even though both are plants.
[3] There are two interesting things about claiming insufficient well-being is suffering. The first is that, to my knowledge, this is a unique account of suffering. What is far more interesting, though, is that there is a real lack of research done in the well-being literature on flourishing through suffering. Given my desire to argue that we will be harmed if enough suffering is eradicated, this could be an extremely fruitful area of research and work.