Well-Being and Theism: Linking Ethics to God: 5

“William Lauinger presents an even-handed, comprehensive examination of the concept of human well-being. He is to be commended for tackling this commonly misunderstood and inadequately represented topic. He helps make excellent sense of how the well-being of humans is genuinely secured in their finding God to be the ultimate source of true happiness.” — Paul Copan, Professor and Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University, USA

“Professor Lauinger makes two very important contributions to the philosophical literature on well-being. He argues in detail that the correct understanding of well-being is neither an objective list nor a desire account, but a hybrid position―the desire-perfectionism theory―that encompasses both. And he provocatively maintains that this theory, in particular its contention that most of us desire the basic objective goods, requires a metaphysics and that defending either evolutionary or Aristotelian approaches pushes us towards theism. Anyone concerned with the recent debates about the nature of well-being should read this carefully written and well argued book.” -Christopher W. Gowans, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University