Abstract

Education must be good for something, and personal well-being is a plausible candidate for this role. The informed desired account of personal well-being has particular advantages so far as education is concerned, but it is vulnerable to criticism on grounds relating to the objectivity of prudential value. Accounts which avoid this problem, on the other hand, are exposed to objections from the libertarian standpoint, and in terms of their adequacy to reflect the distinctive value of education. This paper attempts to defend an objectivist account of personal well-being as the value of education against these criticisms.