Desire satisfaction theory: your life goes well for you to the extent that you get what you want.
Based on this theory, our deepest desires determine what counts as life's improvement or failures. On this line of thinking, nothing is an essential ingredient in making everyone's life better off. (if he doesn't desire it) Since people desire very different things, there is a wide variety of good lives.
Objective theory of human welfare: what directly contributes to a good life is fixed independently of your desires and your opinions about what is important.
Problem with objective value theory:
(a) If X is truly good for you, then you will be motivated to get X--so long as you know about X and know how to get it.
(b) Many people who know about X and know how to get it are not motivated to become wealthy.
(c) Thus, X will not improve the lives of such people.
Desire theorists reject all objective theories of welfare. In fact, they don't face the previous problem. Indeed,
(a) If something is truly good to you, then it will satisfy your desire.
(b) If something will satisfy your desires, then you will be motivated to get it
(c) So if something is good for you, then you will be motivated to get it.
In addition, desire theory can support the view that there is always good reason to look our for ourselves.
(a) if sth. makes us better off, then it satisfies our desires
(b) if sth. satisfies our desires, then we have reason to obtain it
(c) so if sth. makes us better off, we have reason to obtain it
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