人民應當如何生活

        十六世紀，馬基維利筆下，不同形式的君主國，人民的生活形式必然不一樣。二十一世紀，聯合國各成員國，其人民生活形式及對生活滿意度的標準，因經濟水平的不同有顯著的差異。2011年7月聯合國大會無異議通過不丹倡議的法案。以下是我依據美國普林斯頓大學生物倫理學教授Peter Singer的文章「何不追求國家快樂力」（商業周刊1246期）所作的概述。

A Summary of “Can We Increase Gross National Happiness?” 

     After attending a seriously conference “Economic Development and Happiness” organized by the Bhutan government, Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton, realizes that Bhutan’s policy of promoting “gross national happiness” is a serious issue for all the world.

     However, it puzzles people how to define and measure happiness. To countries of lower development, where the national culture is more dominant than objective indicators, the definition can be the surplus of pleasure over pain experienced over a life time. On the other hand, to richer countries, the definition can be the degree to which they are satisfied with their lives.

     It is hard to develop a simple way to measure happiness for it involves a serial subjective and objective value judgments. Nevertheless, the UN assembly has passed a Bhutanese-initiated resolution recognizing the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal and invited member states to develop more measures to achieve it. 

Reference

Singer, Peter. “Can We Increase Gross National Happiness?” ProjectSyndicate. September 13, 2011.   

     http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/can-we-increase-gross-national-happiness-