Happiness Fall 2017 Class Notes

AUG 29

Audio from class: First section, parts a and b [1], [2]. Second section: [3]

• Course Introduction

• Some Problems of Happiness: notes
• Small Group Response / Peer introductions

• Course Mechanics and Assessment

• Course websites: alfino.org, courses (courses.alfino.org) and wiki (wiki.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino)
• Submit Roster Information
• Grading Schemes & Assignments
• Some values of anonymity / non-anonymity in developing philosophical skill.

AUG 31

Audio from class: [4] [5]

Note on Method

• Today's readings come from a history of happiness and a contemporary philosophical reflection on "living well" -- one of our core methods in the course will involve this kind of interdisciplinary study.
• In your group exercise today, you will be working with methods such as: generating cases, ordering cases by principles, "pumping intuitions".
• Thought experiment are part of a contemporary philosophers' toolkit. Nozick's "Experience Machine" is a thought experiment.

Some notes on Teaching Methods and Advice

• transparency and anonymity -- Saint names, pseudonyms, dropboxes, peer review, sharing student work, grade distributions
• Note on finding audio. In each class day's notes.
• Note on finding old class notes. At bottom of main wiki page.
• prep cycle -- check out "focus" notes on reading list, read, come to class, follow study questions from class, make notes in light of class, repeat.
• Note your responses to things in your notes so that you can go back and collect them for the My Philosophy of Happiness paper.
• Mark or note your readings so that you can answer study questions for use in short answer (Q&W) exercises and essay exams.

Cahn and Vitrano, "Living Well"

• considers how various philosophers would evaluate the contrast between the fictional cases of Pat and Lee

• Taylor and Frankfurt: P&L are equal. "living in accord with your desires" / according to what you love

• Living well: tied to distinctions between

• "successful lives" vs. "wasted lives"
• lives pursuing "intrinsically valuable" goals
• lives that are "works of art"
• fame and achievement vs. mission and meaning vs. satisfaction with one's own activities

• concern about the possibility of ideology or cultural bias.

• Wolf's list: computer games and crossword puzzles not on the list, but why not, asks Haidt?
• why disparage making money, swimming, driving cool cars?
• why do philosopher's think they can put philosophy at the top of the list?

• Example of Phil Saltman: Does happiness require maximizing accomplishment? Can unhappiness be associated with resignation from challenge?

• Cahn and Vitrano's answer: p. 21.

Small Group Work

• What is the relationship between happiness and achievement? Between happiness and using your talents? Is it an option, a favored option, a necessity?

Some general notes on Classical Views and the problem of criteria for living well

• Note how happiness emerges as a concern in Greek culture -- (and in other cultures -- will be looking at Buddhism later)
• Plato's (Socrates') view as exemplified in the Symposium -- finding happiness in the search for good accounts of things; knowledge.
• Structure of Symposium -- Love and Happiness as being drawn toward a transcendent and complete reality. (and later in Christianity)

• Specific term of Socrates' view -- eros --> desire --> lack vs. happiness --> fulfillment --> possession (self) -- problem of Alcibiades

• Aristotle's view -- telic, developmental, but also privileging the rational, similar problem as Plato. Not an account of happiness for the masses.

• Raises the question of criteria for living well -- How might it be true that happiness and realizing our nature are related? unrelated?

McMahon, "Chapter 1: The Highest Good"

1. Classical Greek Models of Happiness

Key theme: Greek cultural break with accommodation to destiny. Recognition of possibility of control of circumstances determining happiness.

Implicit historical narrative: Classical Greek philosophy has a point of connection with Periclean Athens, but develops Athenian cultural values in a radically new way. This begins a distinctive kind of narrative about happiness in the West.

1. The Greek Cultural Model

• Connection of the culture with tragedy, appreciation of fate, happiness as gift of gods.
• Dionysian culture
• Post-Socratic Schools -- Hellenism and Hellenistic culture (we'll be returning to some of these schools later in the course)

2. The Greek Philosophical Models in Greek Philosophical culture: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Zeno.

A. Plato - Symposium gives us picture of Plato's view.

• Contrast the Symposium with the cult of Dionysius
• Reasoning our way to the Good (Happiness). Symposium as purification ritual (Summary including Alcibiades twist). bad desire/good desire. We will find real happiness in the pursuit of transcendent knowledge.
• Object of desire is transcendent. (Reminder about Platonic metaphysics.) "intellectual orgasm" (36)
• McMahon: "radical reappraisal of the standards of the world" 37

B. Aristotle (note McMahon pp. 41ff and Aristotle reading)

• end, function, craft, techne. Hierarchy of arts.
• end vs. final end -- the universal good is the final end, not relative. sec. 6-7.
• happiness as activity of the soul in accordance with virture (def., but also consequence of reasoning from nature of human life)
• Section 13: nature of the soul. two irrational elements: veg/appetitive and one rational. Note separation/relationship.
• As M notes, Aristotle's focus on the rational part of the soul leaves him with a similar problem as Plato -- a model of happines that few (not the Alcibiades in the world) will attain.

• Is the Greek Classical model of happiness (as seen in the Symposium and Aristotle's thought), a revelation of truth about happiness or the beginning of a repressive line of thought in happiness studies?
• If happiness requires a disciplined practice, how do you maintain solidarity with those who do not maintain the discipline (the Alcibiades problem)? Possible weakness of an individual enlightenment model of happiness.

SEP 5

Audio from class: [6] [7]

Methods

• conceptual analysis of subjective and objective in Vitrano
• Haybron's mention of method, p. 10.

Vitrano, The Subjectivity of Happiness

• "objectivist view" of happiness,

• connects happiness and the good life, living a good life.
• especially from Aristotle: happiness is objectively related to moral and prudential goodness, "living well" and "doing well"
• objectivists limit happiness to those who can develop their capacities and talents.

• subjectivist view:

• "satisfaction criterion" (note: an objectivist can still require that one also be satisfied with one's life)

• modified objectivism:

• Warner: satisfaction, but also of "important desires" that are thought "worthwhile". Simpson adds that the desires must actually be worthwhile.
• Annas: stronger still. We can assess our desires and goals objectively.
• Kekes: We can assess whether someone's satisfaction is warranted.
• Nozick: can't call someone happy if their emotions are unjustified and based on false evaluations

• Counterarguments to the objectivists:

• Case of Jane, who is happy in part because of her marriage, which she considers a success, but wrong about that because her husband is having an affair.

• might want to say that Jane would be "better off" knowing the truth, but then happiness and being "better off" are at odds, which is a problem for an objectivist who thinks happiness is the "best" state.

• second, to the extent that happiness is an emotion, we will have to credit the experience of the emotion as a form of fulfillment of the state.

• Other considerations supporting a subjectivist view:

• satisfaction criterion compatible with improvement. Someone can be happy and satisfied and yet they might still be happy if they made better moral and prudential decisions.
• therefore, subjectivism and appraisal are not incompatible.

• subjectivists explain behavior better.

• people actually behaves as though happiness were one among many goals.

Haybron, Dan. Chapter 1: "A Remarkable Fact"

• compares happy Socrates from a culture we regard as impoverished to us. and
• compares Amish, Maasai, and Inughuit to us.
• Paradoxical for our intuitions -- they are happy but don't have things we regard as necessary to happiness.
• International data on happiness -- What does it mean?
• the Piraha (Pidana) - outliers

• maybe happiness is too variable to have a theory about. his approach, p. 9-10
• advocates theorizing happiness as a psychological state, separate from life satisfaction.

SEP 7

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SEP 12

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SEP 14

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SEP 19

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SEP 21

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SEP 26

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SEP 28

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OCT 3

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OCT 5

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OCT 10

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OCT 12

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OCT 17

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OCT 19

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OCT 24

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OCT 26

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OCT 31

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NOV 2

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NOV 7

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NOV 9

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NOV 14

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NOV 16

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NOV 21

t day pre

NOV 28

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NOV 30

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DEC 5

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DEC 7

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DEC 12/14

last week of semester