Main description:

This set of four volumes represents 50 years of research on the quality of life conducted by Alex C. Michalos. It brings together and puts into a historical context the selected works that reflect the author's main goal of improving the quality of life for the planet's current and future inhabitants by means of sound scientific and philosophic research, and public policy making. The set describes his journey through the disciplines of Philosophy, Business Ethics, and Public Policy, to the field of Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction and Happiness. It shows how, from the late 1960s to today, scholars around the world picked up the ancient Greeks' question of the nature of a good life or life of a good quality, and created an extensive research network exploring new answers, new methods of asking the question, and new ways of analysing answers. Finally, it makes clear that one of the most important and most frequently neglected features of this research field is the simple fact that while the phrase 'quality of life' has become researchers' focus of attention, our lives have as many qualities as there are perspectives from which they are viewed.