ABSTRACT
From a standard economic perspective the ultimate purpose of production is consumption. Pathological consumption is consumption that does not contribute to human flourishing, but rather renders it harder to realize. This chapter explores how virtue ethics might fit into a policy discussion given a view of the good life that is, at least in part, based on an account of virtue. It argues that how the state conducts its business can have a larger impact on the public perception of its own sense of its civic obligations. Arguments are sometimes made in a libertarian vein that government oversteps its legitimate function in proscribing the pleasures that free adults may engage in a free society. The chapter suggests that reforms will need to overcome established interests that have a strong investment in our prevailing food systems that prioritize profit over human health and well-being. The notion of mindful consumption is derived from what is known as the Mindfulness Movement (MM).
