Marie's search for a good life includes many of the ingredients that we commonly see as underpinning a good life: independence, a sense of ownership of her own life, a need for close and intimate relationships and meaningful work. But her attainment of these elements of a good life is fraught with difficulties and remains precarious, threatened by her view of her own fragility and the power exercised by others over her. Where did her view of a good life come from? Why is it so elusive? In this chapter and the next, we explore some of the ideas and theories that underpin Marie's view of what a good life is.

More particularly, in this chapter, we address the first of the questions that frame this book: what meanings have been given to a good life in Western society? Over the past few years there has been a number of published books in which the authors have tackled the meaning of a good life from different disciplinary perspectives and with different emphases. These books have examined the relevance of past conceptions of a good life to the present (see, for example, Cottingham, 1998; de Botton, 2001; Grayling, 2003, 2007; Russell, 2005; Eagleton, 2007; Bauman, 2008; Kohn, 2008). While this literature may seem far removed from Marie's lived experience we would argue that it is relevant to understanding both her life and those of other people with intellectual disabilities who are the subjects of this book.