- After you... (we've bumped the schedule back a day, today we're on the preface, intro, and opening chapter).
- How did the "Against Happiness" authors begin the project of this book? Of what is it an assessment? What are their goals?
- Do you agree with Emerson about the purpose of life?
- Why should we be humble about happiness as a goal? What's WEIRD? 3-4
- What's missing from the way social sciences currently conceive of happiness? 10-11
- What concept is "much more capacious" than happiness? 16 Do you agree that "there is no kind of happiness that everyone wants"? 17
- In April 2022 the CDC reported what about teens? 30 Does this surprise or sadden you? What can be done about it?
- What kind of happiness does Martin Seligman promote? 32
- Can Callicles be happy? 36
- What's the meta-happiness paradox? 41
Monday, October 23, 2023
Questions Oct 24
Now that some of us have had an extended Fall Break, let's see if we can all show up at once on a non-exam day... at least as a courtesy to our fellow presenters.
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What does Flanagan say about Indicators? how do you feel this could apply to your own life?
ReplyDelete"Indicators are indicators. What they indicate requires interpretation. A thermometer can tell whether a child has a fever or not. It provides no information about what the underlying problem is if the child.
has a fever."(49).
I really liked this quote and analogy by Flanagan in chapter 2. I feel often times in our lives we have indicators to a problem or issue, yet we do not try to interpret or heed those indictors that would help us to solve our issues. Sometimes you need to take life in your own hands and get to the core issue behind what is going on. It is important to be proactive in solving problems, something ,personally, I am actively trying to work to be better at.
Hey Matt,
DeleteI like this quote a lot and I think that indicators are a skill that most people, including myself, are not conscientious of.
At least in my high school years when it came to friendships, I constantly tried to make toxic friendships work because of how small our class was (and the entire school), thinking that I could somehow fix what was the problem of others. Their behaviors and actions should have been an indicator to find other friends within the small class and to spend my energy elsewhere. I am now more attuned to these types of situations but obviously need to apply this to other areas.
Heeding indicators is indeed "proactive"... as opposed to passively yielding to "Influencers," a term whose ubiquitous currency has begun to annoy me a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat are ways in which you are living "authentically?" (56)
ReplyDeleteFlanagan asserts that "True happiness invovles living authentically, which once again might not involve feeling happy at hall." (57)
Often times I feel like living authentically means to be happy but Flanagan has posed quite a different perspective on this. For me, I read this as changing certain behaviors which is a journey that takes time. The desire to change myself in certain aspects is a difficult process that I sometimes get frustrated with. I would like to think that this could be an avenue of what Flanagan means. Sometimes its just about changing meaningless habits that produces more authenticity.
What do you think our nation would conceptualize as "life satisfaction" in comparison to other countries?(p.48)
ReplyDeleteIn America, there is a lot of pressure to consistently be productive in life with little breaks for the self in between. We constantly chase money and our success in the career world which we associate with life satisfaction (or at least I feel this perception has been ingrained in American society). It is as though we need to get to a particular spot in our careers to be satisfied but do not take the time to be satisfied with our life on the journey there. We feel that the constant buzz of work will leave us more satisfied than the days where we sit back and think of ourselves as "unproductive."
I think we can learn something from Europe in their more relaxed approach to life and their work and personal life balance.
Have I mentioned WJ's letter to H.G. Wells?--
ReplyDelete"...a symptom of the moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess Success. That—with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success—is our national disease." Sept. 11, 1906
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38091/pg38091-images.html#page_259
Thanks for these questions/comments, we need a few focused on the intro and 1st chapter as well.
What are some of the limitations of traditional happiness studies that the authors point out?
ReplyDeleteIs happiness your personal summum bonum? If no, do you have one? What is it?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of happiness does Martin Seligman promote? 32
ReplyDeleteHe promotes his theory of "authentic happiness", which adds purpose, meaning, high quality achievements, expressions of talents and etc.. to subjective well-being.