Wise Desire-Priorities: Hedonism or Moral Integrity?

Although there are several philosophical theories about what constitutes ‘good life’, few focuses on which type of desires pay off for those who entertain them. We therefore investigate empirically how people prioritize among desires through a global assessment of what lives they most want to live. In the current study (N = 154), we presented them with 26 questions about the type of life they could find desirable. Structural Equation Modeling revealed systematic differences in how a hedonistic attitude and an attitude of moral integrity differently predicted desires towards life. And as older participants tended to be less supportive of hedonistic attitudes, our results argue against hedonism.