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Love (Drugs), Happiness, and Morality

Summary

This paper argues that love, happiness, and moral behavior create a self-reinforcing cycle: moral actions increase happiness, happiness promotes loving feelings, and love encourages more moral behavior. The author proposes that psilocybin and other love-enhancing drugs could strengthen this beneficial cycle, making them an ethical way for people to voluntarily improve themselves and society without requiring government mandates.

Background

Prior research by Persson and Savulescu has argued for moral bioenhancement to prevent ‘ultimate harm,’ while other scholars have demonstrated that happiness and moral behavior operate in a circularly supportive relationship. This paper extends previous work by introducing love as a third variable in this relationship.

Objective

To demonstrate that love, happiness, and morality operate in a triple circularly supportive relationship, and to argue that this relationship provides a superior grounding rationale for moral bioenhancement compared to harm prevention. The paper also explores how love-enhancing substances, particularly psilocybin, can deepen and sustain this triple correlation.

Results

The paper establishes that moral behavior is grounded in love, love encourages prosocial behavior, prosocial behavior increases happiness, and happiness enhances moral inclination. This triple circular reinforcement can be significantly deepened through careful use of love-enhancing substances combined with guided meditation, particularly psilocybin.

Conclusion

Happiness, rather than harm prevention, should serve as the primary grounding rationale for moral bioenhancement. Love drugs like psilocybin represent a voluntary, happiness-promoting means of moral enhancement that is more ethically defensible than compulsory approaches, as they align with individual self-interest while benefiting society.
  • Published in:Bioethics,
  • Study Type:Philosophical Analysis and Literature Review,
  • Source: PMID: 41144801, DOI: 10.1111/bioe.70043
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