Happiness is the highest good.

1. 01Define the thesis precisely

   completed

   Define the thesis precisely as the claim that happiness is the highest good and life’s purpose.

2. 02Identify assumptions and key terms

   completed

   Identify assumptions (measurability of happiness, existence of an objective highest good) and key terms (happiness, highest good, eudaimonia).

3. 03Specify supporting and opposing evidence

   completed

   Specify that supporting evidence should link happiness to value, while opposing evidence should present alternative highest goods.

4. 04Gather primary and secondary sources

   completed

   Retrieve relevant sources from the supplied set (SEP‑happiness, Summum bonum, Eudaimonia).

5. 05Extract claims and relevant evidence

   completed

   Extract claims about definitions of happiness and its relation to the highest good.

6. 06Evaluate source reliability and verify claims

   inconclusive

   Evaluate source reliability (academic encyclopedia entries) and verify that excerpts directly address the claim.

7. 07Construct the strongest supporting argument

   completed

   Construct the strongest supporting argument using utilitarian identification of happiness as the highest good.

8. 08Construct the strongest opposing argument

   completed

   Construct the strongest opposing argument using eudaimonia and virtue ethics as alternative highest goods.

9. 09Test logical structure and assumptions

   completed

   Test logical structure: assess whether premises adequately support conclusions and note any hidden assumptions.

10. 10Compare competing explanations

    completed

    Compare competing explanations: happiness‑centric, flourishing‑centric, duty‑centric, and pluralist accounts.

11. 11Record unresolved issues

    completed

    Record unresolved issues: conceptual ambiguity, cultural variation, and lack of consensus on objective value.

12. 12Produce the current assessment

    completed

    Produce the current assessment that the thesis is underdetermined given the mixed evidence.

Research runs

These are stored worker runs. A failed evidence gate is shown rather than hidden.