The uninvited guest: ethics below the complexity of quality

First, some epistemological issues, underlying the definition of QOL, are taken into account to test the consequences of the choice between essentialism and conventionalism. Then, the notion of complexity is examined in relation to the many-dimensional nature of QOL. Finally, the presence of hidden presuppositions of ethical character and the need of making them explicit are discussed through some particularly simple examples and shown to be linked to epistemology and complexity.