Happy-People-Pills For All Blackwell Public Philosophy Series

Happy-People-Pills for All explores current theories of happiness while demonstrating the need to develop advanced pharmacological agents for the enhancement of our capacity for happiness and wellbeing.

• Presents the first detailed exploration of the enhancement of happiness
• A controversial yet rigorous argument that demonstrates the moral imperative for the development and mass distribution of ?happy-pills?, to promote the wellbeing of the individual and society
• Brings together the philosophy, psychology and biology of happiness
• Maps the development of the next generation of positive mood pharmacology
• Offers a corrective to contemporary accounts of happiness

Acknowledgments ix

1 Introductory 1

2 What is Living and What is Dead in Brave New World 19

3 What DoWe Mean by ‘Happiness’? 41

4 The Elements of the Good Life: It is a Very Big List 72

5 Wellbeing and Virtue 100

6 Happiness Promotes Perfection 120

7 Happy Pharmacology 155

8 Arguments for Happy-People-Pills 187

9 Ethical Objections 206

10 Happy-People-Pills and Public Policy 233

Index 273

Mark Walker is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at New Mexico State University, where he occupies the Richard L. Hedden Endowed Chair in Advanced Philosophical Studies. Dr. Walker also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Evolution and Technology and on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.