Measuring Quality of Life: Social Indicators Overview
摘要
This chapter concludes the philosophical investigation into the ethics of social indicators by engaging the paradox of measuring what is essentially immeasurable—justice. Rather than rejecting quantification, it advocates for a critical-constructive approach that renders measurement ethically and epistemically accountable. The argument is advanced that justice should not be treated merely as a quantifiable variable, but as a meta-norm guiding the design, deployment, and interpretation of indicators. Emphasis is placed on integrating transparency, reflexivity, pluralism, and contestability into metric frameworks. The chapter also underscores the transformative potential of indicators—as tools not only for assessment but for critique and emancipatory action. In anticipation of the next chapter, it lays the foundation for reconceptualizing justice itself as a multidimensional social indicator of quality of life. Ultimately, it calls for a justice-conscious philosophy of measurement that is capable of navigating pluralism without relativism and complexity without reductionism.