Ah, I see. I do think that makes sense: we stress the value of things besides health but shy away from using terms which make us look silly.
And yet whilst ‘well-being’ and ‘flourishing’ are good names, they seem problematically vague to my ears: I imagine a conversation where I say “I want to help people lead flourishing lives” and they pause before saying “I agree, QALYs sounds too narrow … but what exactly do you mean about leading a flourishing life? How are you defining/measuring that?” I think there’s an advantage, if you want to do cost-effectiveness, to having a clear, if slightly wrong, measure. QALYs have the virtue of providing a uniform score sheet.
On your last point, I think that reveals a problem about word use. I don’t see ‘happiness’ being used narrowly in ordinary language at all. It describes a whole host of things: the good life, well-being, life satisfaction, emotions, etc.
Ah, I see. I do think that makes sense: we stress the value of things besides health but shy away from using terms which make us look silly.
And yet whilst ‘well-being’ and ‘flourishing’ are good names, they seem problematically vague to my ears: I imagine a conversation where I say “I want to help people lead flourishing lives” and they pause before saying “I agree, QALYs sounds too narrow … but what exactly do you mean about leading a flourishing life? How are you defining/measuring that?” I think there’s an advantage, if you want to do cost-effectiveness, to having a clear, if slightly wrong, measure. QALYs have the virtue of providing a uniform score sheet.
On your last point, I think that reveals a problem about word use. I don’t see ‘happiness’ being used narrowly in ordinary language at all. It describes a whole host of things: the good life, well-being, life satisfaction, emotions, etc.