The program takes as its point of departure a well-documented need for better measurement and understanding of, and better means for communicating about, the welfare of citizens, including that of particularly vulnerable groups. It is also motivated by widespread concerns about the use of gene-, information-, monitoring and welfare technology, which carry great promises, but also raise worries about the loss of crucial “human factors” and possible negative consequences for autonomy or transparency.
The research activities will focus on the accuracy and validity of welfare measurement instruments, the value sensitive aspects of care, diagnosis and therapy, including the use of patient classification tools and the challenges of talking with vulnerable citizens about personal wellbeing. Another central topic is prioritization of health or care services based on ethical judgments, including “micro-prioritizations” in specific real-world situations. The theoretical foundation for the activities is philosophical wellbeing theory, which will be further developed so as to become more holistic and process-oriented, phenomenological value theory, contemporary theories of distributive justice and contextualist and virtue ethics.
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