The Selected Works of Alex C. Michalos

This set of four volumes represents 50 years of research on the quality of life conducted by Alex C. Michalos. It brings together and puts into a historical context the selected works that reflect the author's main goal of improving the quality of life for the planet's current and future inhabitants by means of sound scientific and philosophic research, and public policy making. The set describes his journey through the disciplines of Philosophy, Business Ethics, and Public Policy, to the field of Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction and Happiness. It shows how, from the late 1960s to today, scholars around the world picked up the ancient Greeks' question of the nature of a good life or life of a good quality, and created an extensive research network exploring new answers, new methods of asking the question, and new ways of analysing answers. Finally, it makes clear that one of the most important and most frequently neglected features of this research field is the simple fact that while the phrase 'quality of life' has become researchers' focus of attention, our lives have as many qualities as there are perspectives from which they are viewed.

Prof. Alex Michalos currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Brandon University. He is also the Director of Research for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and Emeritus Professor in Political Science at his former institution, the University of Northern British Columbia. Michalos has published 24 books, over 100 refereed articles, and founded or co-founded seven scholarly journals. Among the seven, he is Editor in Chief for the Journal of Business Ethics, the most frequently cited journal in the world devoted to business ethics, and Social Indicators Research, the first scholarly journal devoted to quality of life research. He is married to Dr. Deborah Poff, President and Vice-Chancellor of Brandon University.