Anthony Skelton’s article, “What Is This Thing Called Happiness,” asserts that happiness is a version of hedonism. Skelton backs this claim up with the idea that one is happy at time T when they have more intrinsic occurrent attitudinal pleasure than intrinsic occurrent attitudinal displeasure. Skelton’s purpose is to point out and defend his account of happiness which states that one judges that happiness is when one's life is measuring up to their standards and when they find their life satisfying under those standards. Given the advanced philosophical/psychological language, Skelton is writing to a well-educated audience with prior knowledge of philosophy and psychology and the theories of
