The Pursuit of Success

Despite its centrality to so many of our life choices, the question of what it means to live a successful life has been a neglected topic within philosophy.

The Pursuit of Success: A Philosophical Examination of Happiness, Well-Being, and Meaning in Life suggests that both our commonsense and philosophical assumptions about success focus on external achievements and overlook the importance of happiness to achieving success in life. Drawing from Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, the Stoics, and other ancient moral thinkers, Christine Vitrano addresses our misguided assumptions about success, which have led us to relentlessly pursue external goods and achievements at the expense of our own happiness.

Vitrano defends the view that the key to living successfully is to find happiness, arguing that everything else we typically associate with success is important only insofar as it contributes to happiness. She criticizes contemporary philosophers who emphasize the importance of activities that are objectively valuable or meaningful and proposes that just as it is a mistake to associate success with external goods like wealth and material possessions, it is also a mistake to place restrictions on how one finds happiness in life.