Introduction

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides a brief history of philosophers’ involvement with the Global Burden of Disease Study, from its origins in the 1990s through the present, showing how the researchers leading the GBD have consistently sought out the advice of philosophers, and how their input has shaped several important aspects of the study. It then goes on to summarize some of the key conclusions defended in the volume’s remaining chapters, on philosophical issues raised by the GBD as a whole, on whether studies like the GBD should aim to measure health or well-being, on the GBD’s use of causation, on values built into the GBD’s measures, and on the uses of GBD data.