How To Be An Agnostic
philosophers too, because it apparently provides an objective
indicator of what people are feeling. This, they say, is needed to
overcome the scepticism that derives from certain traditions that
doubt it is possible to know what is going on inside another per-
son’s head (because I can only observe you, and not see into your
brain, and from that only infer what you are experiencing). The
hope is that because individuals can be wired up and monitored
as, say, they laugh or cry, confi dence can return to interpreting
the meaning of tears: if the left brain lights up, they are indeed
tears of joy; if the right brain lights up, they are tears of sadness.
The science has been taken out of the laboratory and into
government. Its advocates say that it provides fi rm foundations
for social policies that aim to promote the ways in which people
can live more happily. Richard Layard is one to explain how in
his book, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. He argues that
as a result of the philosophical scepticism, policy-makers had
lost confi dence in the idea behind Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarian-
ism, that a good society is one in which happiness is maximised
for the greatest number of people. However, says Layard, hap-
piness can now be put back on the agenda as a goal of govern-
ment because the days of uncertainty are over. Today, happiness
can be measured: it is made tangible by ‘solid psychology and
neuroscience’, he writes.
Utilitarianism was an honourable invention when it fi rst
emerged in the eighteenth century. Then, many folk did not
enjoy a decent dose of quality pleasures. However, as became
apparent almost as soon as Bentham published his ideas, it is
very diffi cult to say for sure what it is for people to be truly
happy. And this is where the Socratic point kicks back in.
Is not pleasure very different from contentment which is
again very different from joyfulness which is similarly different
from happiness – and yet all would be called good feelings? And
underneath all that lies the fundamental question of what hap-
piness is? Today it is generally taken to mean a peak or sustained
experience of positive feeling – the aspect that can be measured.
A quintessential example might be the sensation an athlete has