The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Sebastian Östlund, "Methodological Commitments for Well-Being Analyses".
Abstract: In the philosophical literature, the question about what well-being is remains unresolved. For instance, there are competing views about whether well-being consists in some single thing or if it consists of many parts. Additionally, there are deep disagreements about whether having some level of well-being requires that a mental state component, such as satisfaction, obtains. Moreover, it is contested whether having opportunities for achieving various things, such as satisfaction, adds anything to one’s well-being. This leads to different views on the ways we should differentiate levels of well-being for people who e.g. are fasting and people who are starving.
The capability approach offers one kind of theory for analysing well-being. The capability approach characterises well-being in terms of several things and is consequently pluralistic. It further allows room for mental state components but does not require their presence for well-being to obtain. Moreover, while the capability approach allows for varied assessments of how opportunities contribute to well-being, it gives them a significant role in distributional matters. Through these commitments, a “space of evaluation” is provided. Due to its malleability, the capability approach has been adopted in several disciplines and has seen extensive use in applied policy-related work.
While the capability approach’s malleability has benefits, exactly what the space of evaluation covers that the capability approach provides is still undecided. My dissertation engages with questions that influence how that space of evaluation should be mapped. This presentation will reflect material from my introductory chapter (Swedish: kappa). The chapter will eventually accompany papers that answer the types of questions that inform how the space of evaluation should be mapped. As an introduction, I cover topics involving methodological commitments, the respective roles of arguments and examples in political philosophy, and identify different levels of doing (a mix of) applied and foundational philosophical theorising.
All interested are welcome to participate in this seminar.
This seminar is held online in Zoom. Link for participation will be distributed by email to the seminar distribution list. If you wish to participate but are not on this list you can get the link by contacting Pär Sundström, see below.
Learn more about the seminar series in Philosophy and upcoming events
