Philosophical Foundations of Quality of Life : The Selected Works of Alex C. Michalos

Annotation This first volume has as its main focus the philosophical foundations of Michalos' work and describes it in the broad context of the study of logic, the philosophy of social sciences, and a general theory of value. After distinguishing things that have value from the value that things might have, it describes the foundations of a pragmatic theory of value. This theory plays a key role in the author's research on the quality of life and connects his empirical research to the philosophical tradition of the American pragmatists William James, Ralph Barton Perry, John Dewey and Clarence Irving Lewis. The volume addresses various aspects and issues concerning decision making, including decision procedures used in committees, used for assessing the acceptability of scientific theories and new technologies, procedures for a science court, ethical issues involved in the formation of beliefs, some limitations of classical economists' alleged postulates of rational preference, and the importance of analytic guides to decision making. Finally, it describes the organization of the Social Sciences Federation of Canada and a formal accounting system for scientific research Front Matter....Pages i-xxxii Alex C. Michalos: Pioneer of Quality of Life and Social Indicators Research....Pages 1-3 Interview by Dan Weijers....Pages 5-11 The Best Teacher I Ever Had Was ... J. Coert Rylaarsdam....Pages 13-15 The Case for Atheism....Pages 17-24 Logic, Philosophy of Science and the Quality of Life....Pages 25-65 Philosophy of Social Science....Pages 67-95 Postulates of Rational Preference....Pages 97-101 Decision-Making in Committees....Pages 103-130 Analytic and Other “DUMB” Guides of Life....Pages 131-133 The Morality of Cognitive Decision-Making [Ethics of Belief]....Pages 135-149 Meeting Current Needs....Pages 151-158 A Reconsideration of the Idea of a Science Court....Pages 159-176 Technology Assessment, Facts and Values....Pages 177-196 A Pragmatic Theory of Value....Pages 197-227 Creating a Culture of Support for the Social Sciences: Lessons from the First Forty Years of the Social Science Federation of Canada....Pages 229-289 Notes for a System of Scientific Research Reports Accounts....Pages 291-297 Back Matter....Pages 299-305