Eric Ip & Trevor Wan on The Right to Pursue Happiness on a Healthy Planet is a Fundamental Right (Journal of Medical Ethics blog)

"The right to pursue happiness on a healthy planet is a fundamental right"

Eric Ip & Trevor Wan
Journal of Medical Ethics blog
17 June 2022

Happiness and health determine what, why, and how we do what we do. There is a profound relationship between the two. The Constitution of the World Health Organization, a multi-lateral international treaty, proclaims in its preamble that health is ‘basic to the happiness’ of all peoples. Healthier people tend to be happier, and happier persons live longer. Whether we understand happiness as the ‘hedonistic’ attainment of pleasure and avoidance of pain, or the ‘eudaimonistic’ pursuit of meaning and self-realisation, it is unsustainable on a planet whose health is rapidly deteriorating. ... Click here to read the full text.