Drawing on broad definitions of technology and engineering as well as precedents in the philosophical literature, this paper makes the novel argument that the purposeful design of one’s unique good life using existing philosophical concepts is an engineering activity. Whether as a metaphor or as an engineering activity in its own right, a sampling of important benefits and perspectives provided for well-being by the presented “life engineering” framework are highlighted. A key strength of the framework is the conceptual simplicity, with minimal sacrifices in completeness or consistency. This necessitates a tradeoff of limited precision for any one practical implementation. Consistent conceptual definitions for wisdom, virtue and the good life are presented within an informative ethics. Only a descriptive evaluation to aid in conceptual understanding is discussed, no prescriptive normative evaluations are made. The good life is defined to be one in which the minimum requirements are met and then performance is good, but no attempt is made to define what is good. A fundamental limitation of the framework stems from the inherent focus of technology on human utility. Although no novel fundamental conclusions are drawn in this paper, the presented framework is demonstrated to correspond with numerous ethical precepts of many existing philosophical traditions.

借鉴技术和工程的广泛定义以及哲学文献中的先例，本文提出了一种新颖的论点，即使用现有哲学概念有目的地设计一个人独特的美好生活是一种工程活动。无论是作为隐喻还是作为工程活动本身，都强调了所提出的“生命工程”框架为福祉提供的重要利益和观点的样本。该框架的一个关键优势是概念上的简单性，在完整性或一致性方面的牺牲最小。对于任何一种实际实现，这都需要权衡有限的精度。智慧、美德和美好生活的一致概念定义在信息丰富的伦理学中提出。仅讨论有助于概念理解的描述性评估，不进行规范性评估。美好生活被定义为满足最低要求并且性能良好的生活，但不尝试定义什么是好的。该框架的一个基本限制源于技术对人类效用的固有关注。尽管本文没有得出新的基本结论，但所提出的框架被证明与许多现有哲学传统的众多伦理戒律相符。该框架的一个基本限制源于技术对人类效用的固有关注。尽管本文没有得出新的基本结论，但所提出的框架被证明与许多现有哲学传统的众多伦理戒律相符。该框架的一个基本限制源于技术对人类效用的固有关注。尽管本文没有得出新的基本结论，但所提出的框架被证明与许多现有哲学传统的众多伦理戒律相符。