NEWS The Higher Seminar in Philosophy and Theory of Science invite to a seminar with Jason Raibley, California State University Long Beach, under the heading: "Disabilities, Well-being, and the Interpretation of Social Indicators".
Abstract: Psychological findings from the last 40 years challenge ordinary thinking about the harmfulness of disabilities. The evidence is mixed, but even if taken at face value, the exact meaning of these findings depends on the relation between (a) the psychological construct of subjective well-being (SWB) and (b) personal well-being or welfare as this concept functions in ethics.
This relation is not something that can be straightforwardly established by any empirical study. This paper evaluates two proposals about the nature of well-being and its relation to SWB, before sketching a new proposal and presenting several considerations that favor it.
This new proposal implies that common disabilities are often not as harmful as many people take them to be—and can even be overall beneficial—but for reasons not directly illuminated by psychological studies. Still, these disabilities should not be seen as welfare-neutral, and they can be very harmful in combination.
All Heartly Welcome!
Editor: Per Melander
