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Happy-People-Pills For All

“A fascinating and provocative argument, beautifully made. This book challenges everything you believe about who deserves to be happy, and why.”

—Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University, Author of the bestseller Stumbling on Happiness


"A game-changing contribution to philosophical debates about happiness. Its arguments are ambitious, novel, and philosophically focused and its discussion wide-ranging."

—Nicholas Agar, Victoria University of Wellington, Author of Humanity's End: Why We Should Reject Radical Enhancement


"Happy-People-Pills is a great examination of the increasingly contentious issue of modifying our bodies and our moods through pharmacology. Laying out in precise detail the arguments for and against, Walker explains the importance of happiness for health, life, and love and gives a powerful case for using chemical technology to make more of it."

—Patrick Hopkins, Millsaps College, Author of Sex/Machine: Readings in Culture, Gender, and Technology

Mark Walker (Author)

9781118357385, Wiley

Hardback, published 26 April 2013

296 pages
23.6 x 16.3 x 2 cm, 0.526 kg

“The philosophical portions of the book are good enough, and I recommend Happy-People-Pills for All if you are interested in a fun “what-if” discussion.”  (PsycCRITIQUES, 10 February 2014)

“Summing Up: Recommended.  With reservations.  General readers.”  (Choice, 1 January 2014)

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

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]
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