Well-Being

Urban and Community Lifestyles in Ecotopia as Paradigm for Sustainable and Holistic Well-Being

by Roman Meinhold

(2012) Beijing, China: UIBE

This paper will posit the sustainable urbanization and social community concepts in Ernest Callenbach's Novel... more This paper will posit the sustainable urbanization and social community concepts in Ernest Callenbach's Novel Ecotopia. The ecologically oriented utopia deals with a wide variety of sustainable and holistic issues related to urbanization and community development and illustrates how they could be addressed ideally and practically. Some of those measures have been implemented in a number of countries others are still in high demand or debated by environmentalist, politicians, and economists. The detailed and practical ecological solutions in Ecotopia include, but are not limited to, all possible types of waste management encompassing recycling programs, plant derived biodegradable durable plastics, renewable energy, car and airplane free transportation, a wide variety of public transport opportunities (high and simple tech, such as free public bicycles), organic farming, renaturation, and reforrestation.
In Ecotopia ecologically compatible high-technology exists besides postmaterialistic lifestyles and attitudes of it’s citizens. Environmental paradigms include: intergenerational justice, sustainability, steady-state economy, prices of goods that reflect the real costs (speak the ‘ecological truth’), anti-consumerism, slowly declining population, and strict environmental laws. The ecocentric worldview gives preference to the quality of life not to the economic paradigm of growth.
This paper will examine which of Ecotopia's measurements in urbanization and community development are still desired for future sustainable and holistic development, especially in the light of the fast growing major cities in Asia. For the purpose of giving a normative orientation for holistic-sustainable development an index of holistic well-being, comprised of 10 sub-indices, will be proposed.

Youth and democracy: Participation for personal, relational, and collective well-being

by Scotney Evans

Evans, S.D., Prilleltensky, I. (2007). Youth and democracy: Participation for personal, relational, and collective well-being (Introduction to Special Issue of Journal of Community Psychology), 35 (6), 681-692.

In this article, we introduce a framework for understanding well-being in general and the well-being of youth in... more In this article, we introduce a framework for understanding well-being in general and the well-being of youth in particular. In addition, we offer a model for analyzing interventions designed to promote personal and collective well-being. Finally, we dis- cuss the contributions of the authors of this special issue to our analytical and inter- vention frameworks.

Teacher perceptions of school culture and their organizational commitment and well-being in a Chinese school

by Chang Zhu

Zhu, C. Devos, G. & Li, Y. (2011). Teacher perceptions of school culture and their organizational commitment and well-being in a Chinese school. Asia Pacific Education Review, 12 (2), 319-328.

Assesing Middle Chileans' Quality of Life: The Case of La Florida's Families

by Colombina Schaeffer

This report was born out of a collaborative effort with Professor Michael Pusey (UNSW). Pusey´s research was concerned... more This report was born out of a collaborative effort with Professor Michael Pusey (UNSW). Pusey´s research was concerned with understanding how middle Australians´ quality of life changed after economic reform during the Howard Government. As a result, Pusey published a book: "The Experience of Middle Australia: The Dark Side of Economic Reform" (2003). Based on Pusey´s research, we decided to conduct a research project in Chile relying on Pusey´s experience and research.

‘Hope’ for children and youth in a challenging world?

by Penny Moore

“Even If I Have Land, Can I Eat It?” Perceptions of Poverty in Karamoja

by Karol Czuba

Karamoja - Uganda's poorest region - has become a major target of development and relief interventions, but little... more Karamoja - Uganda's poorest region - has become a major target of development and relief interventions, but little research has thus far focused on its inhabitants’ perceptions of their circumstances. This paper contains the voices and opinions of Karamojans from six communities in four districts of Karamoja. They share their concerns about the conditions in which they live and express their particular understanding of poverty. The paper finds that, following the loss of much of their livestock, Karamojans have devised new ways of coping with deprivation. Their strategies have not, however, been entirely successful and many continue to suffer from hunger. Karamojans are acutely aware of their desperate situation and have definite ideas about the actions which should be undertaken to alleviate poverty.

The impact of moving to a novel environment on social networks, activity and wellbeing in two new world primates

by Cedric Sueur

Our Deeds, Our Selves

by Adam Kern

Forthcoming in Analysis, 2012.

It is a mystery why we are bettered by successfully pursuing our projects, even when we fail to attain their objects.... more It is a mystery why we are bettered by successfully pursuing our projects, even when we fail to attain their objects. Here I propose a solution: when an agent undertakes a project, he constructs a part of himself; to successfully pursue a project is to benefit that part of oneself; and to benefit a part of oneself is to provide some benefit to one’s whole self. I then outline the following considerations in favor of my proposal: our pride towards our accomplishments, the stringent conditions on one’s being a benefactor, and the harm of having one’s projects thwarted.

Care of the self, Care of the Earth: a new conversation for Rio+20

by Peter Doran

Draft of my paper to appear in the forthcoming edition of the Review of European and International Environmental Law

What if capitalism was on the agenda at a world summit on sustainable development? Do we need to pay more attention t... more What if capitalism was on the agenda at a world summit on sustainable development? Do we need to pay more attention t the ways in which our immersion in the culture of capitalism compromises our responses to the environmental crises? These are two of the questions taken up in this paper.

Multi-Component Theories of Well-Being and Their Structure

by Alex Sarch

The ‘adjustment strategy’ currently seems to be the most common approach to incorporating objective elements into... more The ‘adjustment strategy’ currently seems to be the most common approach to incorporating objective elements into one’s theory of well-being. These theories face a certain problem, however, which can be avoided by a different approach – namely, that employed by ‘partially objective multi-component theories.’ Several such theories have recently been proposed, but the question of how to understand their mathematical structure has not been adequately addressed. I argue that the most mathematically simple of these multi-component theories fails, so I proceed to investigate more sophisticated ways to formulate such a theory. I conclude that one of these – the Discount/Inflation Theory – is particularly promising.

How Bad is Death?

by Ben Bradley

Canadian Journal of Philosophy 37 (2007): 111-127.

Meaning and purpose in life and well-being: A life-span perspective

by Paul T. P. Wong

Philosophical Utilitarianism

by Ben Bradley

Forthcoming in the Encyclopedia of Utilitarianism (Continuum), ed. James Crimmins and Douglas Long.

The Frustrating Problem for Four-Dimensionalism

by Adam Taylor

revision of an earlier paper, now under review at Phil Studies.

I argue that four-dimensionalism, especially when combined with mereological universalism, is incompatible with the... more I argue that four-dimensionalism, especially when combined with mereological universalism, is incompatible with the desire satisfaction account of well-being, because it adds to the population of suffering individuals whose interests could plausibly be said to diverge from those of the persons in whom they are embedded as temporal parts, and that in doing what is ultimately good for persons we must do what is ultimately bad for subpersons. I call this 'the frustrating problem' for the four-dimensionalist. I examine five possible solutions to the frustrating problem, the Parfit-inspired claim that identity is not what matter, the pronoun revisionism of Noonan, the indirect account of Hudson, the sensible stages view of David Lewis, and 'multiple concepts' account. I argue that none of these solutions is compelling. Thus the four-dimensionalist has reason to reject the desire satisfaction theory, while the adherents of the desire satisfaction view have at least some reason to reject four-dimensionalism.

Narrativity, Freedom, and Redeeming the Past

by Ben Bradley

Social Theory and Practice 37 (2011): 47-62.

Internalism About a Person's Good: Don't Believe It

by Alex Sarch

Internalism about a person’s good is roughly the view that in order for something to intrinsically enhance a person’s... more Internalism about a person’s good is roughly the view that in order for something to intrinsically enhance a person’s well-being, that person must be capable of caring about that thing. I argue in this paper that internalism about a person’s good should not be believed. Though many philosophers accept the view, Connie Rosati provides the most comprehensive case in favor of it. Her defense of the view consists mainly in offering five independent arguments to think that at least some form of internalism about one’s good is true. But I argue that, on closer inspection, not one of these arguments succeeds. The problems don’t end there, however. While Rosati offers good reasons to think that what she calls ‘two-tier internalism’ would be the best way to formulate the intuition behind internalism about one’s good, I argue that two-tier internalism is actually false. In particular, the problem is that no substantive theory of well-being is consistent with two-tier internalism. Accordingly, there is reason to think that even the best version of internalism about one’s good is in fact false. Thus, I conclude, the prospects for internalism about a person’s good do not look promising.

The Philosophical Foundations of Subjective Measures of Well-Being

by Erik Angner

Angner, Erik (2008) "The Philosophical Foundations of Subjective Measures of Well-Being," in Luigino Bruni, Flavio Comim, and Maurizio Pugno (Eds.) Capabilities and Happiness (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 286-298.

Health Literacy and Happiness: A Community-Based Study

by Erik Angner

Fred Feldman, What is This Thing Called Happiness? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. xv+ 286.

by Erik Angner

Angner, Erik (in press, 2012) "Book Review: Fred Feldman, What is This Thing Called Happiness? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. xv + 286," Utilitas.

Current Trends in Welfare Measurement

by Erik Angner

Angner, Erik (2011) "Current Trends in Welfare Measurement," in John B. Davis and D. Wade Hands (Eds.) The Elgar Companion to Recent Economic Methodology (Northampton: Edward Elgar), pp. 121-154.

The rise of subjective measures of well-being represents at least two important trends in the measurement of welfare... more The rise of subjective measures of well-being represents at least two important trends in the measurement of welfare or well-being. The first trend, which has already received some attention in the literature, is a shift away from preference-satisfaction accounts of individual well-being and toward mental-state accounts. The second trend, which has gone largely unnoticed, is a shift away from the measurement-theoretic (or representational) approach to measurement and toward the psychometric approach. In this chapter, I will argue that whereas orthodox economic welfare measures are based on the measurement-theoretic approach, subjective measures are based on the psychometric approach. The difference helps explain why subjective measures are based on questionnaire data, while orthodox economic measures are based on observable choices; why proponents of subjective measures validate their measures by establishing construct validity, reliability, and so on, whereas orthodox economists tend to establish that a particular function is a utility function; why orthodox economists’ approach to welfare measurement strikes proponents of subjective measures as terribly inadequate, and vice versa; and why subjective measures are based on mental-state accounts, whereas orthodox economic measures are based on preference-satisfaction accounts of well-being. This trend constitutes a radical methodological shift, which is likely to have a significant impact on the shape of welfare economics and on the public policy it informs, and could generate novel and interesting avenues of research.