Well-Being: Proseminar

PHIL 171 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Well-being, or welfare, is a kind of personal value – it is a value for some individual. We say that someone enjoys a high level of well-being when the life that they lead is a good one for them, and that when someone’s life goes poorly for them, their level of well-being is low. We can all probably point to certain kinds of lives that are paradigmatically high or low in well-being. But it is harder to identify what makes it the case that someone has a particular level of well-being, primarily because it is not obvious what things fundamentally contribute to or detract from the value of one’s life. In this seminar, we will consider contemporary approaches to welfare, including recent defenses of monistic theories like hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory, as well as pluralistic theories. The Fall 2026 reading list will likely include a new-ish monograph in the area - perhaps Valerie Tiberius's book, perhaps Amy Berg's forthcoming book, perhaps something on AI welfare, and perhaps something else entirely. The Canvas site will be updated as the reading list evolves prior to the start of the term.