Quality of Life - Evaluation or Description

‘Quality of life’ is part of many different discourses and has been used in a variety of meanings ranging from purely descriptive (as in some medical contexts) to distinctly evaluative meanings (as in some social science and political contexts). The paper argues that there are good normative reasons...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Birnbacher, Dietrer (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 1999
In: Ethical theory and moral practice
Year: 1999, Volume: 2, Issue: 1, Pages: 25-36
Further subjects:B phrase
B Subjectivism
B Social indicators
B Quality of life
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:‘Quality of life’ is part of many different discourses and has been used in a variety of meanings ranging from purely descriptive (as in some medical contexts) to distinctly evaluative meanings (as in some social science and political contexts). The paper argues that there are good normative reasons to make the concept as descriptive as possible at least in its medical applications and, furthermore, to reconstruct it in a thoroughgoing subjectivist way, making the reflexive self-evaluation of the subject him- or herself the ultimate standard. Attention is drawn to the fact that only few of the measures of quality of life applied in present-day medicine correspond to these requirements.
ISSN:1572-8447
Contains:Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1023/A:1026409110084