- Interpretive challenges to a reliable picture of happiness are especially pronounced in which societies? 149
- What did the American Psychiatric Association apologize for in 2021? 154
- What kinds of questions do the authors think should be added to subjective well-being studies? 160
- Measures of "hedonic balance" typically focus on what? How might this be misleading? 164
- Judgments of life satisfaction are arbitrary in part because there's no reason to think most people know where to set what? 173
- What's the difference between being judiciously positive and being Pollyanna? 180-81
- Work in philosophy of language and logic, linguistics, and the emotions definitively shows what? 186
- The consensus seems to be that the primary duties of a good society are what? Do they unambiguously predict happiness? 189
- The authors have contended that what goods come first? 191
- Instead of, or in addition to, a worldwide movement to advance happiness the authors propose that educators do what? 201-2
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Questions NOV 2
Flanagan 8-11 (-p.202). PHIL/RS Open House/Pizza Party 4:30–5:30 pm in JUB 202 [we'll begin there]. PRESENTATION: DELANA
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5. Judgments of life satisfaction are arbitrary in part because there's no reason to think most people know where to set what? 173
ReplyDelete"Since there is no reason to think that many people
have firm ideas about where to set the “good- enough” point for
their lives..."(173).
I think this is a really good point by Flanagan. I feel, especially in America, we have a culture that promotes ambition and continued working to a goal. It can be really hard to develop a sense of what is "good enough" in life when we are always striving for more. I think this heavily affects teenagers-midlife adults. When figuring out what we want with our life, it is hard to sit down and say, "this is good enough". We are constantly trying to work to get good jobs, or figure out what major we want, or just figure out life. Apart of being young is working through hardship to find our "good-enough" point, if that even exist. Flanagan is asserting that this should not matter, who cares if something is "good-enough". Live life, keep working through the struggle, and I feel satisfaction with life will follow that.
And at least part of the time we should allow ourselves to live "without a goal"... another way of thinking about "moral holidays," fun for its own sake. Nietzsche's formula for happiness--"a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal" is not always healthy.
DeleteWhat point are they authors trying to illustrate with their example of the carpenter who needs at least 15 nails to complete their task on pages 171/172?
ReplyDeleteI think it's continuous with the subsequent point that our culture does not possess a consensus view of what is "good enough," and thus can support very different "glass half full/empty" evaluations. How many nails is "good enough"? Our answers will vary, and absent a consensus we're neither of us wrong. But if the structure we've nailed fails, a consensus ought to grow.
DeleteWork in philosophy of language and logic, linguistics, and the emotions definitively shows what? 186
ReplyDelete"emotion terms are not semantically equivalent even across the best translation manuals"
What did the American Psychiatric Association apologize for in 2021? 154
ReplyDeletetheir history of supporting direct and indirect racism in psychiatry
Here are some questions I hope to cover in my presentation/discussion today.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8: Hermeneutical injustice is discussed in the first part of this chapter. Can you guys think of any struggles in y’all’s lives that don’t have solid language that to make it more straight forward to talk about? One that comes to mind for me is a term I have “feminine rage”. I’ll talk more about it in my discussion if there’s time and/or interest.
Chapter 9: The example of the P’s and N’s starting on page 172 was my favorite part of this chapter. I love thought experiments. It actually brought to mind another experiment I’ve seen before.
https://youtu.be/e5vFMO9Fcjg?si=AkzSd_xkuM4FPn2q
So putting these two things together, I think we can draw a conclusion about how one’s personal outlook can change the trajectory of their life. If someone is able to “view the glass-half full”, like the P’s, there is more potential for hope, making trust easier, making the individual more likely to split when paired with someone who they perceive as trustworthy. They have the ability to believe in the potential for someone else to be good, with the result being betterment of both parties. The “glass half-empty” person sees the events that intercede their life as sourly as they can, whether it be as an act of self preservation, or because that’s how they’ve been taught to see the world. Either way, the thought process in the experiment could be, “Well this person I don’t know is probably going to be a bad person, so I should just go ahead and steal. That way, if they steal as well, I won’t be the poor sucker who fell for it.”
So for this scenario, by the socially accepted terms of betterment, it is more beneficial to be trusting than not. More good is achieved. Can you guys think of where this might not be applicable? Do you guys agree with my conclusions from these two sources.
Chapter 10: The last paragraph on page 189 is what I want to highlight in this chapter. I just wanted to present my own logic on the idea that being morally decent is more important than being happy. My math brain turns it into a game of probability. Valuing being morally decent more than being happy does not guarantee happiness, and valuing happiness over moral decency does not guarantee morality. Neither provides the promise of the other in totality, yet valuing being morally decent gives a higher probability of NET happiness, whereas valuing PERSONAL happiness actually provides a LOWER amount of net happiness. I’ll talk about this more in class if there is time and/or interest.
Chapter 11: How “happy” (satisfied in their life) someone is has a lot to do with them being convinced that they are happy in whatever system the ones in charge want them to comply with, not actually in the system itself being the best it can be. This is why it’s important to differentiate true happiness and life satisfaction, which I personally think is one of the decisive cruxes of this class.