Public philosophy

Since the millennium, there has been a huge increase in the visibility of philosophy, both online and off. There are, of course, books on philosophy, but also numerous popular live events, courses, podcasts, television and radio programmes, and newspaper columns. Philosophy today is as likely to be found on YouTube as it is in a bookshop or library. Just to mention a few examples of freely accessible online public philosophy initiatives: Michael Sandel's 'Justice' course, the BBC's History of Ideas animations, or the many popular philosophy podcasts, including History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps from Peter Adamson, Philosophy Bites from David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton, and the philosophy episodes of the BBC Radio 4 series In Our Time. This complex and heterogeneous phenomenon is generally called 'public philosophy'. It's philosophy done in public rather than behind the doors of seminar or lecture rooms, or in paywalled academic journals... (continues)

https://psyche.co/ideas/what-public-philosophy-is-and-why-we-need-it-more-than-ever

"Happiness"-Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

 

Happiness

First published Wed Jul 6, 2011; substantive revision Thu May 28, 2020

There are roughly two philosophical literatures on “happiness,” each corresponding to a different sense of the term. One uses ‘happiness’ as a value term, roughly synonymous with well-being or flourishing. The other body of work uses the word as a purely descriptive psychological term, akin to ‘depression’ or ‘tranquility’. An important project in the philosophy of happiness is simply getting clear on what various writers are talking about: what are the important meanings of the term and how do they connect? While the “well-being” sense of happiness receives significant attention in the contemporary literature on well-being, the psychological notion is undergoing a revival as a major focus of philosophical inquiry, following on recent developments in the science of happiness. This entry focuses on the psychological sense of happiness (for the well-being notion, see the entry on well-being). The main accounts of happiness in this sense are hedonism, the life satisfaction theory, and the emotional state theory. Leaving verbal questions behind, we find that happiness in the psychological sense has always been an important concern of philosophers. Yet the significance of happiness for a good life has been hotly disputed in recent decades. Further questions of contemporary interest concern the relation between the philosophy and science of happiness, as well as the role of happiness in social and political decision-making...(continues)

A capacity for happiness

“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.” (Margaret) Storm Jameson 

WA

Chuckle!!

From "Stoicism" Facebook page...

be happy still

"Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still."

Yeats, A Poem for My Daughter, stanza 9-in "Bewilderment: A Novel" by Richard Powers: https://a.co/0IrGQsH