Faculty Member of Department of Economics of Research Institute of Hawzeh and University
Abstract
Welfare and happiness has been looked upon for ages as the major desires of human beings and societies in such a way that positions, policies, and economic institutions are evaluated in the light of their effects on individuals' welfare. However, there has been much disputation about its quiddity and its essence. From the western perspective, welfare basically addresses, the material part of human life and sees all the values in enjoyments and luxurious life. Following this perspective, mainstream economists, in order to escape the philosophical discussions and probably providing objective criteria, have consigned it to the individuals' preferences. From the Islamic perspective, on the other hand, it has been seen as happiness. In this article, firstly the current theories of welfare and happiness in western point of view are described and evaluated, and, finally, the Islamic perspective is presented. What the present article mainly focuses on, following a philosophical approach along with analytic descriptive method, is the meaning and essence of welfare, and little attention, if at all any, has been given to the policies of welfare. Regarding to the innate difference between human and human values in western and Islamic standpoint, the article claims that Islamic view of welfare is perfectionist one and welfare and happiness of human being is pledged in perfection of both the physical and spiritual aspects of them. The author of the present paper argues that in western views recognition of mankind's good firstly was setup to instincts while reason played an instrumental role and due to failures of these views in some recent theories reason has been given the basic role that is the recognition of human's good and bad.
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