Editorial
The Dual-Dimension of Quality of Life: A Philosophical Value Theory Approach to Reconstructing Health Engineering Goals
@ARTICLE{10.4108/eetpht.11.11062, author={Jack Shirui Wen and Xuesong Li and Qiurui Wang}, title={The Dual-Dimension of Quality of Life: A Philosophical Value Theory Approach to Reconstructing Health Engineering Goals}, journal={EAI Endorsed Transactions of Pervasive Health and Technology}, volume={11}, number={1}, publisher={EAI}, journal_a={PHAT}, year={2026}, month={1}, keywords={Quality of Life (QoL), Health Engineering, Philosophical Value Theory, Goal Reconstruction, Conceptual Engineering, Value-Sensitive Design}, doi={10.4108/eetpht.11.11062} }- Jack Shirui Wen
Xuesong Li
Qiurui Wang
Year: 2026
The Dual-Dimension of Quality of Life: A Philosophical Value Theory Approach to Reconstructing Health Engineering Goals
PHAT
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eetpht.11.11062
Abstract
Health Engineering (HE) has significantly advanced objective health metrics, yet often overlooks the subjective, value-laden dimension of Quality of Life (QoL), creating a gap in achieving genuine human flourishing. This paper addresses this limitation by introducing a Dual-Dimension QoL Model (DD-QoL), which integrates the Objective Functional Dimension (OFD) with the Subjective Value Dimension (SVD). Based on this model, we develop a Value-Sensitive Assessment Framework (VSAF), a distinctive methodological contribution that uses conceptual engineering to shift HE’s primary goal from merely maximizing OFD to optimizing holistic QoL. Through an illustrative example of an AI-assisted care system for Alzheimer’s disease, we qualitatively demonstrate how a VSAF-guided approach can enhance SVD outcomes without compromising OFD. Our primary contribution is a novel, philosophically-grounded framework that provides a supplementary approach for reconstructing HE goals, ensuring that technological progress serves the broader, more profound aim of promoting valuable life experiences
Copyright © 2026 J. S. Wen et al., licensed to EAI. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, which permits copying, redistributing, remixing, transformation, and building upon the material in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.
