ABSTRACT
This chapter finds a way to track the general extension of the concept of worth. It identifies four distinct tests for what makes a life worth living: The Suicide Test, The Recurrence Test, The Extra Life Test, and The Preferring Not to Have Been Test. The chapter argues that all four fail in their most plausible formulations. It defends a fifth, The Pre-Existence Test, for what makes a life worth living: A life worth living (LWL) is one that a benevolent caretaker with foreknowledge would allow. The chapter argues that the pre-existence test usefully tracks the general extension of the concept of what makes a life worth living. It provides a careful consideration of a suite of historically precedented and intrinsically interesting attempts to provide tests for what makes a life worth living. Through the evaluation of the candidate tests, it identifies some useful indicators of worth and to eliminate those that merely mislead.
