Concluding Against Happiness... If you've not yet indicated a final report presentation date/topic, please do so. Or I can assign one.
- What's the problem with "subjectivist" happiness? 207 What is the appropriate role for subjectivity to play in our respective happiness pursuits, do you think?
- Happiness in the deep sense necessarily involves what? 210 What does this mean to you?
- "How satisfied are you with your life" fails to capture the Japanese emphasis on ___ and ___. 219
- When happiness is assessed in less ___ ways, students in the U.S. and Japan do not differ. 224
- Jeffrey Sachs defends a moderate happiness agenda that interprets happiness as what? 228
- What would Aristotle predict about the link between happiness and a virtuous character? 232
- To what sorts of behaviors are people's different ideals related? 238
- What is "ipsatizing" and why should it be used? 245
I am going to post some of my questions which I will ask when I present so everyone can have a chance to look at them ahead of time and hopefully it will stimulate good conversation!
ReplyDelete- Do you agree with the authors that our cultures shape and contextualize what happiness means?
- What would you say the American ideal of happiness looks like? Are there other competing ideals of happiness within America? Do you yourself have a competing ideal of happiness?
- Does the author's contention that happiness is tainted if not constituted by the appropriate context contradict James’ idea of a moral holiday?
Good questions, looking forward to hearing (if not reading) what everyone has to say.
DeleteIn my own happiness pursuit I don't think it ever occurs to me to wonder if I'm doing it "American style" or in deference to an American ideal... but should it?
What is the appropriate context for a moral holiday? The human condition (finitude, mortality, the brevity of life etc.), I'd just say.
I touched on this same idea in my presentation a bit ago, but I think there is a specific kind of 'American happiness' that's very much dependent on consumption. The American Dream is an ideal of middle class wealth and consumption (the car, the home, the new dishwasher, the kids' toys, etc). Materialism in that sense isn't uniquely American, but I think there is a uniquely American materialism that demands its consumption. If anything, a colonial materialism. I think as for 'competing' happinesses, there are some important historical considerations to have. The US is a settler colonial project with different forms of population concentration (Indian reservations, prison work camps, ICE immigration camps) and has, for all of its history, depended on domestic colonies (indigenous people, black people) for exploited labor, if not then for extermination in the case of indigenous populations. What does happiness mean when there is a master/slave dynamic? Ultimately, the master's happiness depends on the exploitation of the slave, but the slave may not need the master. Sometimes, like in America, happinesses depend on other's suffering, and thus there is a contradiction between two groups' happinesses, and therefore there is an obvious competition between different ideals of happiness.
DeleteJeffrey Sachs defends a moderate happiness agenda that interprets happiness as what? 228
ReplyDelete"a good life"
And a good life, we learned from our previous read, is a life committed to positive sociality etc.
DeleteWhat would Aristotle predict about the link between happiness and a virtuous character? 232
ReplyDeleteThat virtue is conducive to "a good life" or happiness.
And a life without virtue is not good, or flourishing, or (to be American about it?) happy.
Delete“Even limited measures or mismeasures of happiness and well-being can provide some answers, and most important, the next set of questions to be answered.” (224)
ReplyDeleteSo now that we’ve all read the book, what do you guys think the next set of questions should be along the path of finding the meaning and relevance of happiness?
I’m not really sure if this will exactly lead to the ‘meaning of happiness’, but I think it will give some insight into how people’s way of interpreting information affects the output of well being into their lives. I have broken down people into five potential categories:
See what is
See what could be
See what should be
See what’s hidden
See what needs to be
I know it sounds kind of stupid, but by finding out how people draw conclusions from their surroundings might have an effect on how they commune with happiness.
It’s just a thought.
What is "ipsatizing" and why should it be used? 245
ReplyDeleteIpsatizing in the book is defined as “calculating standardized scored for each individual”. The book says ipsatizing should be used because, “it addresses response style biases and allows us to infer more confidently that the observed cultural differences reflect specific differences in ideal affect and not more general differences in response styles.”
When happiness is assessed in less ___ ways, students in the U.S. and Japan do not differ. 224
ReplyDeleteIndividualistic
This one was mine (Delana)
Delete- Do you agree with the authors that our cultures shape and contextualize what happiness means?
ReplyDeleteGreat question Rusty! I do agree with the authors that our cultures shape and contextualize what happiness means. This question made me immediately refer back to our first book we read, and the story that Haybron provided about the tribe in Africa who all lived very difficult lives but were always smiling, laughing, and seemingly happy. As people, we let society and culture dictate a lot about what we think and do, and I think this also reflects on our happiness. Thinking of your second question, a lot of happiness in America, to me at least, seems to be driven by success or material gain in life. I like to think that my own personal definition of happiness is much deeper and more fulfilling, but I definitely fall into the mindset that I need a successful job with lots of money so I can live an easier life. I definitely think our cultures influence our definition and outlook on happiness.
"How satisfied are you with your life" fails to capture the Japanese emphasis on ___ and ___. 219
ReplyDeleteMotivation and Behavior