Imagine if you will a government which provides its citizens with comfortable housing, and two special daily pills, free of charge. The first pill contains all our daily nutritional requirements, while the second pill guarantees a sense of happiness and contentment throughout the day and night. My question is: would such a state of affairs be both good and desirable?
Many would argue that the universal provision of housing and food would be a general good. Housing and food are required for the furtherance of human thriving, and so for longterm happiness. Without them we would be significantly restrained in pursuing our future projects of self-realization or fulfilling our potential. They’re things we necessarily need to become who we most fully can be. However, our last theoretical provision, the happiness pill, is more controversial.
Bu hikaye Philosophy Now dergisinin December 2021 / January 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Philosophy Now dergisinin December 2021 / January 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
The Two Dennises
Hannah Mortimer observes a close encounter of the same kind.
Heraclitus (c.500 BC)
Harry Keith lets flow a stream of ideas about permanence and change.
Does the Cosmos Have a Purpose?
Raymond Tallis argues intently against universal intention.
Is Driving Fossil-Fuelled Cars Immoral?
Rufus Duits asks when we can justify driving our carbon contributors.
Abelard & Carneades Yes & No
Frank Breslin says 'yes and no' to presenting both sides of an argument.
Frankl & Sartre in Search of Meaning
Georgia Arkell compares logotherapy and atheistic existentialism.
Luce Irigaray
Luce Irigaray, now ninety-two years old, was, among many other things, one of the most impactful feminists of the 1970s liberation movements - before she was marginalised, then ostracised, from the francophone intellectual sphere.
Significance
Ruben David Azevedo tells us why, in a limitless universe, we’re not insignificant.
The Present Is Not All There Is To Happiness
Rob Glacier says don’t just live in the now.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life
Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.