Love (Drugs), Happiness, and Morality.

Authors

Vojin Rakić

Published in

Bioethics. Oct 27, 2025. Epub Oct 27, 2025.

Abstract

Various authors, including myself, have argued that happiness and morality operate in a circularly supportive relationship. In this paper, love will be added to this relationship. The new triple correlation will be explored through the following lens: not only do love and happiness reinforce moral action, but they appear to be in a triple circularly supportive relationship. Moral behavior is frequently grounded in love; love encourages prosocial behavior; prosocial behavior increases happiness; happiness, in turn, enhances the inclination of most people to act morally most of the time. Argued from the opposite direction: happiness tends to encourage prosocial behavior in most people most of the time; prosocial behavior is conducive to the development of loving relationships; love induces us to behave morally toward the people we love. The argument presented here will also propose that this triple circular reinforcement can be significantly deepened and sustained through a careful use of love-enhancing substances, aided by guided meditation-particularly in the case of the psychedelic psilocybin. It will be concluded that humans will be motivated to use love drugs because they tend to increase their happiness. Consequently, a voluntary use of love drugs is a more effective means of moral (bio-)enhancement than is the prevention of "ultimate harm" that is based on compulsory moral enhancement.

PMID:
41144801
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2025.

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