Taking happiness seriously: Can we? Should we? A debate | Michael Plant, Mark Fabian | EAG London 23

Effective altruism is driven by the pursuit to maximize impact. But what counts as impact? One approach is to focus directly on improving people’s happiness — how they feel during and about their lives.

In this session, Michael Plant and Mark Fabian are discussing how and whether to do this, and what it might mean for doing good differently. Michael is starting by presenting the positive case — why happiness matters and how it can be measured — then sharing the Happier Lives Institute’s recent research on the implications and suggesting directions for future work. Mark Fabian is acting as a critical discussant and highlighting key weaknesses and challenges with ‘taking happiness seriously’. After their exchange, these issues are open to the floor.

Dr. Michael Plant is the Director of the Happier Lives Institute and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre, Oxford University.

Prof. Mark Fabian is a Professor in Public Policy at the University of Warwick and has recently published A Theory of Subjective Wellbeing with Oxford University Press.