Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on ethical objections to happy‐people‐pills. The objections form something of a mixed bag; they include the claims that happy‐people‐pills will lead to emotional inappropriateness, to instrumentalizing our emotions, false happiness, inauthenticity, loss of identity, and unfair distribution. The goal in creating happy‐people‐pills should be to make sure we are still emotionally sensitive (but not too sensitive). The chapter notes that there is no reason to suppose taking happy‐people‐pills will automatically lead to achievement. A frequently expressed concern is that by taking a pill one would achieve only a “false happiness”, not the “genuine happiness”. The just distribution objection is that if happy‐people‐pills were developed, they would be too pricey for the average consumer, or at least too pricey for the poor. This chapter considers the strongest objections to happy‐people‐pills. Showing how these criticisms may be dispatched should strengthen the case for happy‐people‐pills.