April, 2007

What Public Policy Can Add to Happiness

by Ruut Veenhoven

April 23rd, 2007

Darrin MacMahon notes that people are fairly happy in contemporary capitalist democracies and asks me what public policy can do to create even greater happiness for a greater number. In my view there are options at three levels: the macro level of nations, the meso level of organizations, and the micro level of individuals. I [...]

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The Place of Happiness in Pluralism

by Ruut Veenhoven

April 23rd, 2007

Wil Wilkinson notes that happiness cannot be taken as the sole master value and pleas for a “reasonable pluralism” in which happiness competes with other values in the public debate. I agree that happiness is not the only valuable thing, but I also think that happiness has additional merits that go beyond its intrinsic worth. [...]

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Policy Trade-offs, Justice, and Happiness

by Darrin M. McMahon

April 23rd, 2007

I have to say that as a humanist, it is great fun to watch the high level exchange between Will and Barry from the sidelines. But their discussion raises a number of questions in my mind. Barry spoke of the importance of security as a desirable human end, and I have to say that on [...]

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“Going to Hell” Is a Relative Matter

by Barry Schwartz

April 21st, 2007

Will’s most recent post suggests several thoughts. I think it is absolutely true that affluent westerners whine because we can. The objective improvements in our lives give us the time to examine life in microscopic detail and complain about everything that isn’t perfect. Pity the poor little rich folks. So we have little or no [...]

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