Abstract: Griffin expresses doubts regarding Brock's thesis that one can extract from medical ethics literature the outline of a general account of a good life. Griffin contends that while we need prudential values as the broad conception of the quality of life for our reasoning about the good life, there are moral and practical reasons to work with a narrower conception of the quality of life in making certain social decisions. If it is the case that we need several different conceptions of the quality of life for different kinds of social decision, then we need both the broad conception and an understanding of the various considerations at work in generating narrower conceptions.

Keywords: ethical judgments, healthcare, prudential values,