Wellbeing and the Four Qualities of Life

Abstract

In his seminal The Four Qualities of Life: Ordering Concepts and Measures of the Good Life, Ruut Veenhoven (2000) provides a conceptual matrix that helps organise concepts, theories and measures related to the good life. Then as now, terms like wellbeing, quality of life, happiness, and the good life are used and understood in a variety of ways across and even within academic disciplines. Veenhoven’s (2000) conceptual matrix—Four Qualities of Life—is revisited here in order to assess its suitability for various purposes and to attempt to build on it to better suit the purposes of policy makers and especially western philosophers of wellbeing.