William A. Lauinger is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Chestnut Hill College, PA, USA.

Well-Being and Theism is divided into two distinctive parts. The first part argues that desire-fulfillment welfare theories fail to capture the 'good' part of 'good for', and that objective list welfare theories fail to capture the 'for' part of 'good for'. Then, with the aim of capturing both of these parts of 'good for', a conjunctive theory-one which places both a value constraint and a desire constraint on well-being-is advanced. Lauinger then defends this proposition, which he calls the desire-perfectionism theory, against possible objections.   
In the second part, Lauinger explores the question "What metaphysics best supports the claim that the vast majority of humans have the desires for friendship, accomplishment, health, etc., built into themselves?" It is argued that there are two general metaphysical routes that might convincingly be taken here, and that each one leads us toward theism.

Introduction

Part One: The No Priority Theory
Chapter One: General Remarks on Theories of Well-Being


Chapter Two: Desire-fulfillment Theories
Chapter Three: Objective List Theories


Chapter Four: The No Priority Theory


Chapter Five: Hybrid Theories in General


Part Two: What Metaphysics Best Supports the Proposed Account of Well-Being?
Chapter Six: An Evolutionary Grounding for the No Priority Theory
Chapter Seven: An Aristotelian Grounding for the No Priority Theory
Chapter Eight: On Desires as Infinite in Character
Conclusion
Bibliography