PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cajthaml, Martin
TI  - The Role of Happiness in Moral Motivation. A Discussion in Contemporary Ethics
DP  - 2025 Dec 31
TA  - Aither
PG  - 24--35
VI  - 17
IP  - 2
AID - 10.5507/aither.2025.005
IS  - 18037879
AB  - This paper analyses the role of happiness in moral motivation within the eudaimonistic tradition. It addresses the Aristotelian-Thomistic tension between choosing virtuous action for its own sake and for the sake of eudaimonia. Through a critical examination of Josef Seifert's two-motive theory, Jeff D'Souza's altruistic eudaimonism, and Chris Toner's excellence-prior eudaimonism, I argue that Seifert's phenomenological framework provides the most coherent account. It distinguishes between a primary, value-responsive motive directed toward morally relevant goods and a secondary, subordinate desire for true happiness. This dual structure retains the legitimacy of eudaimonistic motivation while avoiding both the self-referentiality characteristic of traditional eudaimonism and the excessive other-centredness of its modern revisions.