Abstract

The paper discusses three of the main lines of the reflexions in moral philosophy on the notion of "quality of life". 1) Recent discussions on the criteria of evaluation of the quality of life are compared with the classical opposition between Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. 2) Proposals of reducing the notion of quality of life to economical measurements are criticized in the context of resources allocation for healh care. 3) Ethical questions concerning intergenerational justice are reexamined as evidence for the strong connections holding among the notions of quality of life, pluralism and the standard of living.