This first volume has as its main focus the philosophical foundations of Michalos’ work and describes it in the broad context of the study of logic, the philosophy of social sciences, and a general theory of value. After distinguishing things that have value from the value that things might have, it describes the foundations of a pragmatic theory of value. This theory plays a key role in the author’s research on the quality of life and connects his empirical research to the philosophical tradition of the American pragmatists William James, Ralph Barton Perry, John Dewey and Clarence Irving Lewis. The volume addresses various aspects and issues concerning decision making, including decision procedures used in committees, used for assessing the acceptability of scientific theories and new technologies, procedures for a science court, ethical issues involved in the formation of beliefs, some limitations of classical economists’ alleged postulates of rational preference, and the importance of analytic guides to decision making. Finally, it describes the organization of the Social Sciences Federation of Canada and a formal accounting system for scientific research.

The third, thoroughly revised and enhanced edition of this bestselling book analyses and discusses the most up-to-date research on the psychology of quality of life. The book is divided into six parts. The introductory part lays the philosophical and academic foundation of much of the research on wellbeing and positive mental health, showing the beneficial effects of happy people at work, health, and to society at large. Part 2 (effects of objective reality) describes how sociocultural factors, income factors, other demographic factors, and biological and health conditions affect wellbeing and positive mental health. Part 3 focuses on subjective reality and discusses how individuals process information from their objective environment, and how they manipulate this information that affects wellbeing and positive mental health. Part 4 focuses on the psychology of quality of life specific to life domains, while Part 5 reviews the research on special populations: children, women, the elderly, but also the disabled, drug addicts, prostitutes, emergency personnel, immigrants, teachers, and caregivers. The final part of the book focuses on theories and models of wellbeing and positive mental health that integrate and unify disparate concepts and programs of research. The book addresses the importance of the psychology of quality of life in the context of public policy and calls for a broadening of the approach in happiness research to incorporate other aspects of quality of life at the group, community, and societal levels. It is of topical interest to academics, students and researchers of quality of life, well-being research, happiness studies, psychotherapy, and social policy.

The second edition will be an update and further elaboration of the literature related to subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. It will have a new substantial section that focuses on reviewing much of the literature of subjective well-being within specific life domains (social life, material life, leisure life, work life, community life, spiritual life, family life, health life, sex life, travel life, etc.) In the 1st edition the research in these various life domains was discussed only briefly. The second edition will maintain the same organizational structure of the first edition; that is, Part 1 will focus on introduction (definitions and distinctions; examples of measures of subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction; and motives underlying subjective well-being). Part 2 will focus on psychological strategies that are allow people to optimize subjective well-being by engaging in psychological processes related to the relationship between and among life domains (e.g., social life, family life, love life, spiritual life, community life, financial life, etc.) This part will contain four chapters related to these various “inter-domain” processes: bottom-up spillover, top-down spillover, horizontal spillover, and compensation. Part 3 of the book will focus on “intra-domain” psychological strategies designed to optimize subjective well-being. These include re-evaluation based on personal history, re-evaluation based on self-concept, re-evaluation based on social comparison, goal selection, goal implementation and attainment, and re-appraisal. Part 4 of the book will focus on balance processes—how people attempt to create balance in their lives using psychological processes within specific life domains (intra-domain strategies) and processes that relate one domain to another (inter-domain strategies).

This book covers the philosophical and ethical foundations of the professional practice of health education in school, community, work site and hospital settings, as well as in health promotion consultant activities. Designed to be flexible, readers are prompted to develop their own philosophical and ethical approach(s) to the field after becoming familiar with the literature related to the discipline. It provides a state-of-the-art, conceptual framework and is targeted for health education majors who seek careers in health education and to provide other health science and health-related majors, who need to gain clear, succinct philosophical principles.

This book summarizes much of the research in subjective well-being and integrates this research into a parsimonious theory. The theory posits that much of the research on subjective well-being can be construed in terms of the personal strategies that people use to `optimize' their happiness and life satisfaction. These strategies include bottom-up spillover, top-down spillover, horizontal spillover, balance, re-evaluation, goal selection, and goal implementation.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. This book addresses issues of defining and measuring the quality of life. Recent developments in the philosophical definition of well-being are discussed and linked to practical issues such as the delivery of health care, and the assessment of women's quality of life. Leading philosophers and economists have contributed to this volume to consider the problems the subject raises. This volume reflects the growing need for interdisciplinary work as economists become more sensitive to the importance of facing fundamental philosophical questions and of the importance of linking their theoretical enquiries to an understanding of complex practical problems. Contributors: E. Allardt, J. Annas, C. Bliss, S. Bok, D. Brock, G. A. Cohen, R. Erikson, W. Gaertner, J. Griffin, S. Hurley, C. M. Korsgaard, L. Kruger, M. C. Nussbaum, O. O'Neill, S. Osmani, D. Parfit, H. Putnam, R. A. Putnam, J. Roemer, T. Scanlon, P. Seabright, A. Sen, C. Taylor, M. Valdes, B. M. S. van Praag, M. Walzer, B.-C. Ysander

This book provides a philosophical foundation to the theory and practice of education from the Indian perspective. It is guided by an 'axionoetic' approach to education and therefore it deals with the epistemological foundation and value orientation of education. The author discusses the ontological, epistemological, logical, ethical and axiological bases of education in a holistic and integrated manner. The author maintains that education is a planned, methodical and purposive enhancement of human potentialities as a natural development. This presupposes correct and adequate formulation of the objectives and goals of education as per the needs and aspirations of pupils. Education also equips individuals for a good quality of life. Keeping in view the applied dimension of philosophy, this book analyses practical issues of moral education like character building value-negativism in the context of education. It also deals with issues concerning peace, sustainable development, sustainable judicious consumption etc. which should have a bearing on educational policies and programmes.

Quality of life is a popular modern subject. The term quality of life appears in many contexts, including in newspapers and TV-commercials, often as an argument for buying a certain product.

This inspirational book provides the philosophical backbone tocountless courses for health professionals. It poses twofundamental questions - "What is health?" and "How can more healthbe achieved?" - and answers them at a depth unmatched by any othertext in this field. David Seedhouse shows that these questions lieat the heart of health practice, and explains why all healthworkers should ponder them deeply. This second edition retains the freshness and enthusiasm of thefirst, while making the foundations theory and its practicalapplications clearer and more accessible than ever. The bookincludes additional material and discussion, new case studies andrevised illustrations. * Describes and explores competing theories of health * Establishes a practical and ethical foundation for healthpromotion and education * Explains the foundations theory - a novel and comprehensive wayto understand health * Shows how the foundations theory might be used to create morehumane health services

Writing from a scientifically and philosophically informed perspective, the authors provide a critical overview of the conceptual difficulties encountered in many current neuroscientific and psychological theories.