Fall 2021 Reading Schedule and Class Notes

Return to Happiness and Wisdom

2: SEP 8 - 1. Introduction to Wisdom

Assigned

• Hall, C2 – “The Wisest Man in the World” (18)
• Labouvie-Vief, "Wisdom as Integrated Thought"(27)

3: SEP 13 - 2. Introduction to Happiness

Assigned

• Haybron, C2, “What is Happiness?” (16 short)
• Haybron, C3, “Life Satisfaction” (10)
• McMahon C1, “Highest Good” (19-40)

In-class

• Sample reading quiz
• Short ungraded informal writing assignment starts today, due 9/14
• Some lecture notes on text sources in Plato and Aristotle for H&W.

SUI: Short Ungraded Informal Writing Assignment (10 points)

• Prompt: (200 words)

• [(google form link here) Follow this link when you are ready to write.] Please turn in your writing by Wednesday, September 15.

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.

Haybron, Chapter 2: What is Happiness?

• takes us into a rich phenomenal account of emotional state happiness

• endorsement -- some difficulty understanding this: not a judgement, but a feeling from satisfying criteria you accept as counting toward the claim, "my life is positively good"

• examples -- feeling from actual endorsements, but also from savoring accomplishment or appreciating need fulfillment (parents seeing contented children, a full pantry...)

• engagement - vitality and flow
• attunement -- peace of mind, tranquility, confidence, expansiveness

• Is Haybron making a recommendation or describing objective, transcultural features of emotional happiness?

• Problem of "false happiness" -- discrepancies such as Robert's (also Happy Frank) -- adaptive unconscious might be part of the explanation -- interesting that we can go wrong in this way. mood propensity or dispositional happiness.

• Can you also be happy and not know it?

• The Haybron discussion also gets at the idea of superficial vs. deep happiness. Ricard, or the sage, presumably have it.

Haybron, Chapter 3, "Life Satisfaction"

• More cases of lives that require narratives to understand: Moresse "Pop" Bickham. Note what Bickham says. It's possible that Bickham has deployed a powerful version of the "internal strategy".
• Haybron considers whether we should infer from his life satisfaction that he was happy

• Claim: You can judge your life favorably no matter how you feel. (Probe this.)
• Claim: (33) There may be a diff between being satisfied with your life and judging that it is going well.

• Comment: Bickham is the extreme case in which its hard to get our intuitions around the idea that Hs and Hl could go together. But let's do our own investigation of this.

• Was Wittgenstein's "wonderful" life plausibly happy or satisfying?

• LS defined at p. 35: "To be satisfied with your life is to regard it as going well enough by your standards."

• That's a puzzling definition since early he convinced us that you "satisfied" and "going well" can be judged separately.

• Claim: It's a mistake to call life satisfaction a hedonic good because it is "not just a question of pleasure"

• Comment: This doesn't tell us that it doesn't also involve a kind of feeling. The fact that it involves judgement doesn't mean emotion isn't involved.

• Small Group Problem: How do you make life satisfaction judgements? How will you decide if your life is "going well" in the coming 2-3 years? Can you be satisfied with your life even if some aspects are not going well? When you think of what is good in your life, do you experience a kind of affect?

• Problems with LS judgements:

• they are global judgments of complex sets of events over time. too reductive a judgement to make 1 - 10.
• it sounds like a simple judgement of the relationship between expectation and outcome (like ordering a steak), but it isn't, really, now is it?

• Good point: more like assessing a "goal-achievement gap" -- example of tenure happiness study

• determining "well enough" is pretty subjective (variable). -- maybe, but that could be explained within the "goal-achievement gap" model since we're always "resetting" in one direction or another ("Things won are done." or "I guess that's not working") recall point about hedonic structure of this.
• most people seem to be able to assert satisfaction with their lives independently of whether they were "choiceworthy"

• For Haybron, this implies that Hl judgements are basically much less relevant to assessing happiness than emotional states. He even suggests with the Calcutta workers reports that they are not grounded judgements.

*kidney patients, colostomy patients.

4: SEP 15

Assigned

• McMahon C1, “Highest Good” (40-50)
• Epictetus, Enchiridion (12)

In-class

• Lecture notes on modern stoicism (Irving)
• The Stoic Worldview

"The Stoic Worldview"

Some Dates

• Way before the stoics:

• "What is wise is one thing, to understand rightly how all things are steered through all." -- Heraclitus
• Most global philosophical cultures have deep philosophical commitments to some form of this principle.

Example of modern stoic / CBT connection: [1]

Theology & Ontology -

• pantheism -- theos - (pneuma) - matter.
• ontology - All is corporeal, yet pneuma distinguishes life and force from dead matter.

Determinism and Freedom - Ench #1

Pneuma, Psyche, and Hegimonikon: Importance of Hegemonikon

Model of Growth and Development toward Sagehood & Wisdom - Soul-training

Late Stoicism: Epictetus

Key Idea: To realize our rational nature (and the freedom, joy and, really, connection to the divine, that only rational being can know), we need to adjust our thinking about our lives to what we know about reality.

Key Claim: If you realize your nature, you will flourish and be happy.

Some passages that define the practical philosophy which follows from the metaphysics and this principle:

• Notice the "re-orientation" which is recommended in #1 and #2. "confine your aversions"
• "Some things are in our control and others are not."
• "Confine your aversion" and understand the limits of things. (Sounds like an “aversion” retraining program based on knowledge claims.)
• Infamous #3. Read with #7, #8, and #14, in case we’re being too subtle. "confine your attractions"
• Something like mindfulness, #4
• Limits of pride. Catching the mind exaggerating.
• Desire: #15,
• Comportment and advice in later points of the enchiridion.

• alignment: 8
• awareness of change: 11
• observing asymmetries: 26
• importance of commitment
• note specific advice in 34 (attend to the phenomenology of desire and future pleasure), 35 (own it). "measure" in 39, read 41. 43

5: SEP 20

Assigned

• Epicurus, Letter and PD (9)
• McMahon C1, “Highest Good” (50-65)

In-class

• We will start a series of reading quizes today and for the next three classes.

Hellenistic Hedonism: Epicurus -- Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrine

• Key Idea: Pleasure is the Good ("Alpha and Omega of a happy life." - Letter)

• Fundamental distinction between Katastematic pleasures and kinetic pleasure.

• Accepts reality of gods, but thinks it's human error to think that the gods bestow blessings and punishments. They're not thinking about you.
• natural desires vs. groundless desires, of the natural, some necessary some only natural. Of the necessary, some for happiness, curing disease, surviving. Direct yourself toward satisfying the natural necessary desires.

• "For the end of all our actions is to be free from pain and fear, and when once we have attained all this, the tempest of the soul is laid to rest" (The desire for pleasure is also a kind of pain.)

• Epicurus is telling us that while we think pleasure is endless stimulation, but it is really found in satisfaction, which is a state of non-desire (rather than lack of desire).

• "They have the sweetest enjoyment of luxury who stand least in need of it."

• "Plain fare gives as much pleasure as a costly diet." "When we say, then, that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean . . . "

• tetrapharmakos:

• 1. Don't fear gods.

• 2. Death is nothing. - note his arguments here and the similar in method to stoicism - need to live the awareness.

• 3. What is good is easy to get.

• 4. What is evil is easy to endure.

• PD 5: Relation of virtue to pleasure
• PD 18: close to adaptation.
• PD 25: something akin to mindfulness.
• PD 27-8: priority of friendship.

6: SEP 22

Assigned

• McMahon C3, “From Heaven to Earth” (141-164)

In-class

• Start short ungraded formal writing practice assignment (10 points): due 9/27
• Some notes on Perpetua and Felicitas.

SUF: Short ungraded formal writing practice assignment

• Stage 1: Please write an 400 word maximum answer to the following question:

• Advice about collaboration: I encourage you to collaborate with other students, but only up to the point of sharing ideas, references to class notes, and your own notes. Collaboration is part of the academic process and the intellectual world that college courses are based on, so it is important to me that you have the possibility to collaborate. It's a great way to make sure that a high average level of learning and development occurs. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to NOT share text of draft answers or outlines of your answer. Keep it verbal. Generate your own examples.

• For this practice assignment, you will lose points if you do not follow the instructions below. Prepare your answer and submit it in the following way:

1. Do not put your name in the file or filename. You may put your student id number in the file. Put a word count in the file.
2. In Word, check "File-->Info-->Inspect Document-->Inspect. You will see an option to delete author information. (For this practice assignment, you will lose 4 points for not removing your name from the Word document.)
3. Format your answer in double spaced text in a 12 point font, using normal margins.
4. Save the file in the ".docx" file format using the file name "IntuitionsFirst".
5. Log in to courses.alfino.org. Upload your file to the Points dropbox.

McMahon, Chapter 3: From Heaven to Earth (Renaissance & Reformation)

• Background of emerging wealth: The Great Divergence [2]

• Contemptus Mundi: 13th-15th century: characteristics. Life in the European Middle Ages.

• Contrast with Renaissance Humanism:

• studia humanitis -- 141
• Pico: 1463. Oration on Dignity of Man. key ideas: protean character of man. read quote on 144. 146: still traditional model (in line with Aquinas' dist.)
• Renaissance Neo-platonism 151: vertical path to happiness.
• Felicitas p. 153
• Bronzino's Allegory of Happiness -- connection to earthly happiness evident.[3] "This complex allegory represents Happiness (in the centre) with Cupid, flanked by Justice and Prudence. At her feet are Time and Fortune, with the wheel of destiny and the enemies of peace lying humiliated on the ground. Above the head of Happiness is Fame sounding a trumpet, and Glory holding a laurel garland. This Happiness, with the cornucopia, is a triumph of pink and blue; the naked bodies of the figures are smooth, almost stroked by the colour as if they were precious stones - round and well-defined those of the young women, haggard and leaden that of the old man."
• Lorenzo Valla's On Pleasure -- represents after life as pleasurable; connecting epicureanism to a Christian life. Note biographical detail. Valla also unmasks claims about Dionysius the Areopagite from Acts, with it, undermining authority of mystical otherworldly current of thought. 161
• Smiles -- also, Mona Lisa, early 1500's
• Melancholy as disease: expressed in theory of humours;
• Thomas More and the concept of "utopia" - new idea. "eu" from "eudaimonia" (flourishing, happiness for Aristotle); in his good Christians devote themselves also to enjoyment of this world.

• Reformation - The reformation can be seen as a huge step toward bring personal faith life and spiritual happiness together.

• Martin Luther and happiness: 1534 letter, ok to be happy, salvation by faith, "killing the Old Adam" (recall the Pelagian heresy! p 169)
• Calvin
• English Civil War -- opens up wide range of alternative views p. 175-176.
• Locke, late 17th century. tabula rasa, nb. 180. Mind is impressed upon by experience and nature. Has its own imperatives. Note what is left out: original sin. Reassertion of happiness as driver of desire. Note enlightenment model of reasonableness of christianity here. Roughly: Reason discovers our happiness and God, as its author, wants this for us. Letter on Toleration very important for construction of modern model of self. Note context of religious wars. [European Wars of Religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wars_of_religion]
• Locke also important to history of happiness for political thought, which supports democratic republicanism over monarchy -- note trending models of happiness toward control of one's life at personal and political levels. Note connection at p. 182. "pursuit of happiness"; physiological thought on happiness;, but even that pleasure can enhance spirituality. 185: "...Locke had legitimated the search for happiness in this life, grounding it in science, human impulse, and divine order."
• Hobbes: we are governed by desire continuously, so happiness must be the continual satisfaction of aims and desires. disparages tranquility or katastematic pleasures.
• nice summary at par bot 185 - 186

7: SEP 27

Assigned

• McMahon C3, “From Heaven to Earth” (164-195)

Hall, Wisdom, Chapter 3 "Heart and Mind"

• Note that Hall is telling something of the "sociology of knowledge" about the rise of wisdom research.
• Vivian Clayton -- reflects on family member's traits. poses question of meaning of wisdom and relation to age. Follow statement on p. 43. Compare to Gisela. Also, note from the end of the chapter about her story. Choice, seeing wisdom easier than doing it.

• Erikson -- idea of wisdom as end stage "8" of process of self-realization. (really more "rationalist psychology")

• Interesting hypothesis in face of growth of knowledge in gerontology about decay of faculties. Correction to last week's

• Hall's account of Genesis myth as also about acquiring "original wisdom" -- wisdom as the price of seeing things clearly. wisdom as necessarily acquired through transgression vs. living within limits. also "dark wisdom".
• Baltes, Smith, Staudinger, Kunzemann. -- Berlin Wisdom Paradigm -- brief overview, 49ff. Note how he derived his construct and method of research. +96
• Early critics: Carstensen and Ardelt -- felt Baltes Wisdom Paradigm (BWP) didn't focus enough on emotion.

8: SEP 29 - 3. Some Wisdom Research Paradigms

Assigned

• Hall C3, “Heart and Mind” (18)

9: OCT 4

Assigned

• Baltes and Smith, "Toward a Psychology of wisdom and it ontogenesis"(27)

Baltes & Smith, "Toward a Psychology of Wisdom and its Ontegenesis" 1990

• Motivations for the Berlin Paradigm's research:

• study of peak performance,
• positive aspects of aging,
• work on intelligence that reflects a concern with context and life pragmatics, Baltes & Smith p. 87

• Point on method in discussion of problem of giving a scientific treatment of wisdom, p. 89. Wittgenstein quote. Baltes acknowledges that there are limits and differences in studying wisdom, for example, need to compare results with lived experience of wisdom. Not typical in science.

• Fundamental assumption #1: Wisdom is an "expert knowledge system"
• Fundamental assumption:#2: A dual-process model of intelligence (Mechanics / Pragmatics) is most relevant to understanding wisdom.

• Focus on p. 94 figure 5.1. Mechanics of intelligence decline, but pragmatics increase over time.

• Fundamental assumption #3: Wisdom is about life pragmatics, understood as life planning, management, review.

• Wisdom defined as "expert knowledge involving good judgement and advice in the domain, fundamental pragmatics of life" 95

• The "Baltes Five" Criteria Construct for Wisdom:

• Rich factual knowledge: accumulation of knowledge which facilitates predictive ability to see how relationships, causes, and meanings will interact in a situation. "a representation of the expected sequential flow of events in a particular situation" (both general: knowing how people work, for example; and specific: knowing how a particular person might respond or think about something; how a particular life problem tends to go...

• Rich procedural knowledge: accumulation of knowledge which facilitates understanding of strategies of problem solving, advice seeking. "A repertoire of mental procedures." (This would include characteristic bias and ways that knowledge seeking goes wrong.)

• Life span contextualism: understanding a problem in awareness of it's place in the life span.

• Relativism: Understanding and taking into account the range of values, goals, and priorities that specific human lives embody.

• Uncertainty: awareness of limits of knowledge in general and in particular factual cases. but also "strategies for managing and dealing with uncertainty" 103.

• Two sets of predictions:

• Wisdom has a culturally accessible and commonly held meaning
• Ontogenesis of wisdom in general, specific, and modifying factors (Fig 5.2)

• Research on everyday concepts of wisdom (106)

• Implicit theories (Holiday and Chandler)
• Sworka - good character increasing associated with wisdom by older test subjects

• Research on wisdom as expert knowledge (108)

• follow preliminary findings 110

10: OCT 6

Assigned

• Hall C4, “Emotional Regulation: The Art of Coping” (17)
• Carstensen, “The Influence of a Sense of Time…” (3)

In-class

• Rubric training

Hall, Chapter 4, "Emotional Regulation"

• Emotional regulation as a compensating strength of aging.

• "Carstensen and her colleagues have proposed that successful emotional regulation is tightly connected to a persons sense of time—usually, but not always, time as it is reflected by one's age and stage of life. "According to our theory, this isn't a quality of aging per se, but of time horizons," she explained. "When your time perspective shortens, as it does when you come closer to the ends of things, you tend to focus on emotionally meaningful goals. " 63

• socioemotional selectivity theory (Cartensen's) - How can the benefits of this view become available to the young?

Emotional Resilience: *Job's emotional resilience. Is it patience or resilience? What is the diff?

• problem in history of philosophy -- downplaying of emotion. But then Hume, and James' "What is an Emotion?"

• Gross: "reappraisal" and "reflection" as techniques of emotional regulation. vs. rumination 66. note mechanism suggested for each. (Note connection to therapeutic writing. Possible topic for short research.) Notice this way of thinking suggests that emotional regulation is trainable.

• Cartensens' research in assisted living homes. counterintuitive answers. (67) "time horizon" theory. Implications.

• Carstensen on the paradigmatic tasks of the young: "knowledge trajectory" (70); "collectors" 71,

• 71: neuroscience on learning from loss; affect forecasting; young as steep "discounters"; greater appetite for risk, less for ambiguity.

• 73: emotional resilience in Davidson's longitudinal neuroscience research: correlation of emotional regulation and brain pattern. Gabrielli studies on young amygdalas. Gross on male/female emotional processing.

• positive illusion (optimism bias) (compare to Seneca's advice

• "Grandparent hypothesis"

• Concluding Group Discussion: Is emotional regulation something that a young person could use to mimic the emotional regulative experience of older people? Is such a goal possible, desirable?

Carstensen, "The Influence of a Sense of Time on Human Development"

• The subjective sense of future time plays an essential role in human motivation. Gradually, time left becomes a better predictor than chronological age for a range of cognitive, emotional,and motivational variables. Socioemotional selectivity theory maintains that constraints on time horizons shift motivational priorities in such a way that the regulation of emotional states becomes more important than other types of goals. This motivational shift occurs with age but also appears in other contexts (for example, geographical relocations, illnesses, and war) that limit subjective future time.

• interesting point: child dev mostly about time since birth. she's interested in time remaining.

• sst: two categories shift: motivation for knowledge acquisition and regulation of emotion.

• presents the theory in this short article. notes research, such as that older people process negative emotion less deeply and spend more time on positive emotions.

Some results:

• SST predicts that young are more likely to endure negative affect to pursue goals, older more likely to have small social networks, less focus on novelty
• Research studies @ bot of col 1 p. 1914.
• Less activation in amygdala of negative emotion in older people. Note hyposthesis on why younger people might need higher activation of negative emotion.

11: OCT 11

Assigned

• Ardelt, “How Wise People Cope with Crises and Obstacles” (11)

In-class

• Starting SW1: Short writing assignment #1 (400 word)

SW1: Short writing assignment #1

• Stage 1: Please write an 400 word maximum answer to the following question by October 18, 2020 11:59pm.

• Topic: Assessing Wisdom Paradigms

• Advice about collaboration: I encourage you to collaborate with other students, but only up to the point of sharing ideas, references to class notes, and your own notes. Collaboration is part of the academic process and the intellectual world that college courses are based on, so it is important to me that you have the possibility to collaborate. It's a great way to make sure that a high average level of learning and development occurs. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to NOT share text of draft answers or outlines of your answer. Keep it verbal. Generate your own examples.

• Prepare your answer and submit it in the following way:

1. Do not put your name in the file or filename. You may put your student id number in the file. Put a word count in the file.
2. In Word, check "File-->Info-->Inspect Document-->Inspect. You will see an option to delete author information. For more information, consult the document, "How to remove your personal information from a Word Document", on SharePoint or do a search based on your version and platform of Word.
3. Format your answer in double spaced text in a 12 point font, using normal margins.
4. Save the file in the ".docx" file format using the file name "AssessingWPs".
5. Log in to courses.alfino.org. Upload your file to the Points dropbox.

• Stage 2: Please evaluate four student answers and provide brief comments and a score. Review the Assignment Rubric for this exercise. We will be using the Flow and Content areas of the rubric for this assignment. Complete your evaluations and scoring by October 22, 11:59pm.

• Use this Google Form to evaluate four peer papers.

• To determine the papers you need to peer review, I will send you a key with saint names in alphabetically order, along with animal names. You will find your saint name and review the next four (4) animals' work.

• Some papers may arrive late. If you are in line to review a missing paper, allow a day or two for it to show up. If it does not show up, go ahead and review enough papers to get to four reviews. This assures that you will get enough "back evaluations" of your work to get a good average for your peer review credit. (You will also have an opportunity to challenge a back evaluation score of your reviewing that is out of line with the others.)

• Stage 3: I will grade and briefly comment on your writing using the peer scores as an initial ranking. Assuming the process works normally, my scores will be close to the peer scores. Up to 14 points.

• Stage 4: Back-evaluation: After you receive your peer comments and my evaluation, take a few minutes to fill out this quick "back evaluation" rating form: [4]. Fill out the form for each reviewer, but not Alfino. Up to 10 points, in Points.

• Back evaluations are due October 29th, 2021.

12: OCT 13 - 4. Some Happiness Research

Assigned

• Haybron C4, “Measuring Happiness” (10)
• Gilbert, C2, “The View from in Here” (26)

In-class

• Research from Argyle and Diener and Suh in lecture.

Gilbert, Chapter 2: The View from in Here

• Twins: Lori and Reba. How to assess their preference?

• Types of happiness: emotional, moral, judgement happiness.

• How can the twins be happy? What is the role of "objective conditions"?

• Subjectivity of Yellow, 32. Nozick's experience machine, 35. Happy Frank, p. 37. (Perhaps goal of this analysis is to see that normal understanding of happiness includes life happiness, virtues, and perfective activities.)

• 40: How similar are two people's experience of happiness? How would you know?

• problem: we don't compare experiences, we compare memories of experiences.

• Describer's study on memory of color swatch, 41. What do we access when we make happiness judgements?

• How reliable is our judgement from one minute to the next?

• Interviewer substitution studies Daniel Simon's Lab: [5]. Other perceptual aspects, 43-44.

• Conclusion: 44-45: read. Not so much about how bad we are at noticing change, but how, if we aren't paying attention, memory kicks in.

• Happiness scales

13: OCT 18

Assigned

• Haybron, C5, “The Sources of Happiness” (24)
• Csiksentmihalyi, C2, “The Content of Experience’ (17)

In-class

• Background on Cskisentmihalyi

Csiksentmihalyi, Finding Flow, Chapter 2

Structures of Everyday Life

• Note how C establishes his humanistic psych presuppositions and commitments in the first few pages. human capacities, potential, development. What's possible? story of Joe.
• Focus on how we spend our time and the state of mind/affect we experience from diff. activities in daily life: production, maintenance, leisure. q. p. 8
• Note cultural and historical differences in the way we spend time and think about the value of productive time. C's ideas here are once again in fashion with "slow culture" writing. add in note about "attentional economy" seems suspicious of TV.
• Experience Sampling Method -- p. 14ff

The Content of Experience

• Theoretical position, p. 21: In story of woman with two jobs: looking for patterns of human commitment to a life. Wants to ask less for self-reports of happiness and more about the moods and affect that might be functionally related to happiness.

• Two big points:

• Happiness is positive emotion that might be driven by behavior. And,
• It may be especially evident in a life of commitments and goals which reduce "psychic entropy."

• Discussion of emotions, goals, and thoughts in terms of the organization of "psychic entropy", 22 roughly, the cognitive / emotive state of order in my mind at a particular moment or during an activity. Intentions and goals inform and order our psychic energy. Most prefer intrinsic motivation, next extrinsic, finally least productive of positive affect is no goal state. Interesting point about self-esteem being independent of accomplishment -- possibly a problem of goal setting. Notice throughout, p. 22 for example, robust endorsement of human potential. Assumption: We could be alot happier (if we follow the implications of this theory).

• Note distinction between Eastern philosophical suspicion of origin of goals and "superficial reading" that suggests it counsels renunciation of goals. (recall discussion of enlightenment and fourth brahmavirhara.) q. p. 24
• three contents of consciousness: emotions, intentions, and thoughts. their integration allows for flow.
• FLOW, p. 29ff. (What a quiet mind is getting ready for.)

• effortless action, being in the zone, altered time consciousness.
• clear set of goals, focusing attention.
• often at limits of skill and challenge level.
• absorption in task, dynamic feedback. "All in."

• Theoretical Problem about the Relation of Flow to Happiness:

• "It is the full involvement of flow, rather than happiness, that makes for excellence in life. When we are in flow, we are not happy, because to experience happiness we must focus on our inner states, and that would take away attention from the task at hand." [Theoretical note: choice of "rather than happiness". Also could be "causes LS" or savoring model.] Think about place of flow in hierarchy of daily goals. Intensity of flow varies widely from extreme to mundane activity. Note related states.
• Data on frequency of flow experiences, p. 33.

• Small Group prompt: Report experiences of flow. If you were trying to get flow to happen more reliably in your life, what steps would you take? What are the obstacles to states of flow? What is its relationship to happiness in your view? Does a happy life have to have flow?

14: OCT 20 - 5. The Enlightenment, American Experience, Money and Happiness

Assigned

• McMahon, C6, “Lib and discontent” (313-331)
• "Economics of Happiness" [6]

In-Class

• Introduction to Easterlin Paradox

McMahon, Chapter 6: Liberalism and Its Discontents

• The Bequest: Enlightenment liberalism

• example of Franklin as quintessential representative of the American appropriation of Enlightenment liberalism

• symbol of thrift and accumulation, self-made, tract, The Path to Riches and Happiness.

• Dec. of Independence: tracing "pursuit of happiness" in enlightenment texts. connected in part to "life, liberty and property", but also in Locke, pursuit of pleasure, seen in "sensualist" terms as unending, relentless. Hence, the value in Am. culture of Christian and Enlightenment Christian (Jeffersonian) praise of christian values of restraint and group commitment. Moral sense theorists of the Scottish Englightenment (326) provide another route to these values.

• p. 322ff: How religious were Enlightenment thinkers? 18th century writings link happiness, Christian life. Jefferson: not pious, but Jeff bible, liked Unitarianism, exemplary Am.Enlightenment religion: Christian ethics good for promoting happiness.

• The American Model of Happiness: Libertarian over civil republican. High religious participation.

• 324: Tension in American Model seen in distinct strains of Libertarian (rooted in freedom of conscience and religion) "freedom from" vs. Classical Republican (rooted in a duty to civic participation and contribution to the public good) "freedom to contribute".

• Alexis de Tocqueville's contribution: Democracy in America 1835 1840: Sociological insight into sadness in the American experiment.

• Of Toq's thesis: Macmahon writes: "perhaps, the cynic, or at least the skeptic, may be on firmer ground. For in a society in which the unhindered pursuit of happiness (to say nothing of its attainment) is treated as a natural, Godgiven right, the inability to make steady progress along the way will inevitably be seen as an aberration, a suspension of the natural order of things." big passage: 333-334

• really about the dynamics of equality, freedom, and democracy vs. community and social values. U.S. a big experiment. Tocqueville also praised Americans for self-reliance and a sense of "enlightened self interest" -- realizing that it is in your self-interest to be concerned about others.

• And that, Tocqueville concluded in a famous line, "is the reason for the strange melancholy often haunting inhabitants of democracies in the midst of abundance, and of that disgust with life sometimes gripping them in calm and easy circumstances." praised enlightened self-interest of americans.

• Mill's contribution: Autonomy and Liberal Hope

• 344: image of John Stuart Mill reviewing Toq's essays and longing for democracy in Europe.
• If. "Let the idea take hold," Mill warned, "that the most serious danger to the future prospects of mankind is in the unbalanced influence of the commercial spirit. .. ."^^

• 347: section on Mill's depression -- famous -- finds solace in romatic poetry. why? evocative, imaginative against starker imagination of rationalist enlightenment.
• also in Mill (and Butler), the problem of indirect happiness (similar to puzzle about enlightened self-interest). Mill's passage 348 breaking with simple Benthamism.

• Mill, On Liberty passage 350 - can't violate someone's liberty to make them happier...

• McM: Is there a romanticism in Mill's position on Liberty?

• Weber's contribution: Socio-religious insight into the dynamic between capitalism and Protestant Christianity.

• Weber Section: 355 "In the Protestant anxiety over the fate of individual salvation, he argued, lay the motive force behind an impetus to capital accumulation, regarded as a sign and partial assurance of God's blessing. Combining ascetic renunciation, a notion of work as divine calling, and a critically rational disposition, the Protestant faith, Weber argued, brought together nascent capitalism's essential qualities: the restriction of consumption in favor of the accrual of capital, and a religiously consecrated ethic of discipline, delayed gratification, industry, and thrift.

• 358: "Indeed, it was during the very period when Weber was writing that America, and the West more generally, began to undergo what the sociologist Daniel Bell has described as a monumental transformation, "the shift from production to consumption as the fulcrum of capitalism." Bringing "silk stockings to shop girls" and "luxury to the masses," this transformation made of "marketing and hedonism" the "motor forces of capitalism," driving over all restraints that stood in the way of the enjoyment of material pleasures with a momentum that would have surprised even Tocqueville." (Note: Galbraith, "The Dependency Effect; reliance on raising GDP; sustainability of economy and population)

• "Material goods," he observed at the end of The Protestant Ethic, "have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous period in history."

• Discussion topic:

15: OCT 27

Assigned

• McMahon, C6, “Lib and discontent” (331-343)
• Aspen Institute discussion of Easterlin Paradox: Wolfers, Gilbert, and Frank (about 40 minutes) [7]
• Clive Crook, "The Measure of Human Happiness" (3) (comments on Aspen Institute video)

16: NOV 1

Assigned

• McMahon, C6, “Lib and discontent” (343-362)
• Gallbraith, “Dependency Effect” (6)
• Harvard Business Review, "The Economics of Well-Being" [8]
• Bruni, "Why GDP is not enough"

In-Class

• Start SW2: Short Writing Assignment #2: Assessing Liberalism and the Money/Happiness connection
• Background on Civil Economy (Bruni C1)

SW2: Short Writing Assignment #2: Assessing Liberalism and the Money/Happiness connection

• Stage 1: Please write an 400 word maximum answer to the following question by November 5, 2020 11:59pm.

• Topic: Assessing Liberalism and the Money/Happiness connection

• Advice about collaboration: I encourage you to collaborate with other students, but only up to the point of sharing ideas, references to class notes, and your own notes. Collaboration is part of the academic process and the intellectual world that college courses are based on, so it is important to me that you have the possibility to collaborate. It's a great way to make sure that a high average level of learning and development occurs. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to NOT share text of draft answers or outlines of your answer. Keep it verbal. Generate your own examples.

• Prepare your answer and submit it in the following way:

1. Do not put your name in the file or filename. You may put your student id number in the file. Put a word count in the file.
2. In Word, check "File-->Info-->Inspect Document-->Inspect. You will see an option to delete author information. For more information, consult the document, "How to remove your personal information from a Word Document", on SharePoint or do a search based on your version and platform of Word.
3. Format your answer in double spaced text in a 12 point font, using normal margins.
4. Save the file in the ".docx" file format using the file name "AssessingLiberalism".
5. Log in to courses.alfino.org. Upload your file to the Points dropbox.

• Stage 2: Please evaluate four student answers and provide brief comments and a score. Review the Assignment Rubric for this exercise. We will be using the Flow and Content areas of the rubric for this assignment. Complete your evaluations and scoring by November 10, 11:59pm.

• Use this Google Form to evaluate four peer papers.

• To determine the papers you need to peer review, I will send you a key with saint names in alphabetically order, along with animal names. You will find your saint name and review the next four (4) animals' work.

• Some papers may arrive late. If you are in line to review a missing paper, allow a day or two for it to show up. If it does not show up, go ahead and review enough papers to get to four reviews. This assures that you will get enough "back evaluations" of your work to get a good average for your peer review credit. (You will also have an opportunity to challenge a back evaluation score of your reviewing that is out of line with the others.)

• Stage 3: I will grade and briefly comment on your writing using the peer scores as an initial ranking. Assuming the process works normally, my scores will be close to the peer scores. Up to 14 points.

• Stage 4: Back-evaluation: After you receive your peer comments and my evaluation, take a few minutes to fill out this quick "back evaluation" rating form: [9]. Fill out the form for each reviewer, but not Alfino. Up to 10 points, in Points.

• Back evaluations are due November 17th, 2021.

Galbraith, Dependency Effect

• Problem of intertemporal comparison: Who's to say that status pleasures aren't as important to us now as basic satisfactions were to our poor predecessors? It is repugnant to think that desires never lose their urgence, but maybe that's the case.

• Flaw in the view of someone who accepts this case: If our desires and wants are "contrived by the process of production", they are not original with us and therefore can't be "urgent" for us. The whole case for accommodating business production (through infrastructure, tax breaks, etc.) falls apart if the production system is creating the needs.

• Develops his view in Section 2: Not against consumer wants, but little doubt that many are contrived. Cites Keynes on insatiability of status needs. "the desire to get superior goods takes on a life of its own" "The urge to consume is fathered by the value system which emphaasizes the abilityt of the society to produce." (GDP)

• Section 3: advertising and salesmanship (no social media yet). It's a problem if the producer makes the goods and the desire for the goods. Note that is calling into question the idea that the consumer is really autonomous. "independently determined wants"

• Read Section 4.

Bruni & Zamagni, Chapter 6: Why GDP is not enough?

• Thesis: We need additional measures of well-being to add to or replace our reliance on GDP. Analogy of multi-stage cycling races: There are many things to compete for in addition winning the overall race. GDP is just the sprinter's jersey. Promoting SWB is the overall goal.

• Historical discussion: Smith's Wealth of Nations not just about individual production and riches, but well-being. Examples of texts from Neopolitan School Genovesi: "Work for your own interest, of course, but don't make others miserable by your gain, work also for public happiness. ....p. 88. Adds "public happiness" to "liberty, fraternity, and equality"

• Critique of GDP: lumps good and bad economic activity together, some stats keepers even consider illegal economic activity. job creation predicts economic activity, but doesn't tell you about the quality of the jobs. "There are awful jobs." (smelt, smelt). GDP relatively new concept (1930s, against background of mercantilist approach which includes wealth of land, resources, labour, capital and stocks. (A stock is any supply of goods of any kind. Stock Market.)

• More critique of GDP: Arguably, "stocks" matter more than "flows" (GDP). Concern about environment is concern about stocks, migration is about human resources, a "stock", security is a stock. (In food studies, egronomists argue about soil and aquifer quality as a neglected stock.)

17: NOV 3 - 6. More Philosophical Paradigms for Happiness and Wisdom

Assigned

• Hall C7 “Compassion” (18)
• Siderits, “Early Buddhism: Basic Teachings” (16)

In-class

• Introduction to Buddhism

Introduction to Buddhism (from wikipedia)

• The Four Noble Truths

1 There is suffering.

2 There is the origination of suffering: suffering comes into existence in dependence on causes.

3 There is the cessation of suffering: all future suffering can be prevented by becoming aware of our ignorance and undoing the effects of it.

4 There is a path to the cessation of suffering.

8 fold path. (see above and in Feuerstein.)

Division	Eightfold Path factors
Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)	1. Right view
	2. Right intention
Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)	3. Right speech
	4. Right action
	5. Right livelihood
Concentration (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)	6. Right effort
	7. Right mindfulness
	8. Right concentration

- from wikipedia.

Siderits, Chapter 2, "Early Buddhism: Basic Teachings"

• Background on Buddha

• note heterodoxy, intro/dev karmic theory (and theory of liberation from rebirth), moral teaching ind. of focus on ritual and deities.
• consensus on "moksa" as goal of enlightenment. Buddha's teaching one of many.
• Siderits presents sramanas as critical and questioning of heterodoxy.

Two background concepts (not directly in this text)

• Distinction between conventional and ultimate reality -- as relates to the doctrine of "no-self"
• Nature of "moral causation" -- fundamental to thinking about karma

• The Four Noble Truths

1 There is suffering.

1. Normal pain. Decay, disease, death. (Flip to Pali Canon, p. 51)

2. Suffering from ignorance of impermanence. Including ignorance of no-self. Suffering from getting what you want or don't want.

3. Suffering from conditions and attachments. "Existential Suffering" Rebirth itself is a form of suffering. (So belief in rebirth doesn't solve the problem of suffering in one life. 21: Rebirth entails re-death. The thought of rebirth is a reminder of the impermanence we wish to escape.) Includes questioning since of purpose in face of indifferent universe (or lack of evidence thereof).

2 There is the origination of suffering: suffering comes into existence in dependence on causes.

Theory of Dependent Origination: Note the chain of causal connection ("Engine of Reincarnation") advanced on p. 22 of Siderits: ignorance ultimately causes suffering, but the intermediate steps are important. Let's give a psychological reading of this metaphysical chain of causation. (compare to Pali Canon, p. 52)

• Rough sequence: ignorance of the reality of self, volitions, consciousness, sentience, sense organs, sensory stimulation, feeling, desire, appropriation, becoming, birth (rebirth), aging and death.

3 There is the cessation of suffering: all future suffering can be prevented by becoming aware of our ignorance and undoing the effects of it. "It is the utter cessation and extinction of that craving, its renunciation, its forsaking, release from it, and non-attachment to it." (from Pali Canon reading)

4 There is a path to the cessation of suffering.

8 fold path. importance of meditation (p. 24) -- negative states of mind have causal consequences. philosophy needed to work with the ideas and moments of self-reflectiveness that meditation generates. (25)

• Cessation of suffering: meditation, (non)self-discovery.

• Need to assess this recommended "training program" more in light of Discourse on Mindfulness and the Eight Fold path (See wiki page Noble Eight Fold Path)

• Note discussion of meditation, p. 25. Basic theory for mindfulness meditation exercise.

• Liberation - enlightenment is marked by the cessation of new karma.

• rejection of presentism (claim that key to insight to get used to impermanence) and annihilationism as models for liberation.
• paradox of liberation: how can you desire liberation if liberation requires relinquishment of desire. Possible solution: to desire the end of suffering.

• Psychologically, liberation might understood today as positive identity change -- The desire to be liberated might less a desire to get something for your current self as to become another self, one that acts effectively in the world without ego attachment.

• Problem following the consequences of "non-self": Buddhist maxim: "Act always as if the future of the Universe depended on what you did, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference."

Hall, Chapter 7: Compassion

• Story of the seige of Weinberg, 12 cent.

• [Puzzle to solve by the end of this review of the chapter: Is compassion worth it? Why would I want to share someone's pain? Why not just make an intellectual acknowledgement of it and send a card?]

• anecdote on the siege of Weinsberg, 1140.

• "By compassion is meant not only the willingness to share another person's pain and suffering; in a larger sense, it refers to a transcendent ability to step outside the moat of one's own self-interest to understand the point of view of another; in a still larger sense, it may take this "feeling for" to the level of mind reading, for the theory of mind — one of the most powerful implements that evolution placed in the human cognitive tool kit—requires us to understand the way another person's feelings inform his or her intentions and actions." 116 Connecting compassion to research on theory of mind. Note claim at the end of the paragraph: Compassion might be thought of as a source of a variety of moral emotions and behaviors.

• note the contrast with Plato, as exemplified by Socrates behavior in the Phaedo.

• Weisskopf: Knowledge without compassion inhumane. Compassion without knowledge ineffective. 118 (Note heuristic!)

• Matthieu Ricard and Richard Davidson studies. (no overarching theory here, but note Davidson on p. 121) Davidson believes in poss of "training" toward increased well being. 123

• Ricard: gloss on wisdom at 121: (discerning reality and selecting opportunity for compassion) also makes the case, on 122, that compassion is based on an understanding of how things are connected, how happiness and suffering are connected. Knowing that there are ways to address suffering fuels compassion, which also helps us understand how things are connected. (Note this is one answer to the puzzle. A Christian or Buddhist could offer distinct, yet roughly compatible answers.)

• general point: importance in this research of thinking of compassion as having a neural substrate and a function in our psychology. But also suggestive of Davidson's thesis that responses can be trained.

• 126: mirror neurons and empathy. (Some notes on the limits of this on the basis of subsequent research.)

• 128: notion of "embodiedness" of our responses to the world. not just cognitive. Dolan's lab, research suggesting that localization of pain at suffering of loved ones in anterior cigulate cortex and insular cortex.

• 130: Richerson and Boyd's cultural hypothesis: imitation - learning - division of labor - other centeredness. All capacities that require a "theory of mind" which includes feeling other's emotions. Theory of mind refers to a set of capacities, but also a way of seeing the world.

• empathy research

• Wisdom implications: Is cultivation of compassion on your wisdom to do list? Why or why not?

18: NOV 8

Assigned

• Pali Cannon, “The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness” (16) (rec)
• Ricard, C6, “The Alchemy of Suffering” (20)

Pali Canon, Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness

• "Mindfulness is also the seventh factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. By developing mindfulness, a person first observes the various aspects of one's being,then learns to control the mind and its reactions to external and internal stimuli." Mindfulness presumes a moral orientation on the world.

• Basic goals of meditation: cultivation of awareness and "control" of sense and feeling. (Control: quieting, not being at the mercy of psychological processes and processes of desire.) How does meditation do that?

• Four foundations of mindfulness, five aggregates of attachment, six bases of sense, seven factors of enlightenment, four noble truths (51),

• Some Points:

• Mindfulness not disconnection from environment, but intense connection, especially if one can control the mental processes that interrupt one's full experience.
• Note use of lists and repetition. inventories.
• Note "joy and happiness born of detachment" 57

• Small Group Discussion (please use the Google group form to report your work):

• Considering Buddhism primarily as a psychological theory of suffering and happiness, what are some of its keys insights according to its adherents? (3-4) How is mindfulness supposed to help us avoid suffering and promote joy? What are you most skeptical about in thinking of Buddhism as a happiness philosophy? Does your group worry, for example, that that egolessness Buddhism calls for might make it hard to be ambitious?

19: NOV 10

Assigned

• Ricard, C7, “The Veils of the Ego” (16)
• Miller, Barbara, “Introduction to Patanjali’s Yoga” (25)

Chapter Six: Alchemy of Suffering (Modern version of 4 noble truths)

• Shortest history of the kingdom: "They Suffer"

• Pervasive suffering -- from growth and development
• Suffering of Change -- from illusion of permanence.
• Multiplicity of Suffering -- suffering from awareness of the many ways things can go wrong.
• Hidden Suffering -- anxiousness about hidden dangers

• Note connection to Gilbert: because we can "next" (imagine futures and alternate presents, design) we are open to these kinds of suffering. Quite a bargain.

• Invisible Suffering -- as in the food industry, suffering of workers to bring you cheap socks. A consequence of invisible suffering is that we repeat the behaviors that lead to it because we don't see it (also food examples).

• Suffering is ubiquitous, but we can learn the causes. Suffering can be avoided "locally" (as entropy can be reversed locally). Note that Buddhism involves a consistent commitment to causation even as, over centuries, our understanding of it has changed.

• Sources of Suffering -- self-centeredness, our unhappiness is caused, 4 Noble Truths.

• A Buddhist tetra pharmakos: Recognize suffering, Eliminate its source, End it, By Practicing the Path.
• 66: "One can suffer physically or mentally -- by feeling sad, for instance -- without losing the sense of fulfillment that is founded on inner peace and selflessness"
• Buddhist story of woman distraught over loss, sent by Buddha to gather dirt from all houses without loss.
• Note 67: parallel story as in stoicism.
• brings in a dash of attachment theory 69-71.

• Methods for responding to suffering -- Control of sense and emotion. Meditation. Use of mental imagery. Mindful self-observation and reflection.

• Some themes of a modern (scientifically oriented) Buddhist explication of the 4 Noble Truths:

• Causal attitude toward suffering at the psychological more than metaphysical level. 65, 67; use of neurology to understand pain and related phen. 73
• Positive aspects of suffering 71 -- suffering can be productive for spiritual dev.
• Mental imagery in ancient and modern Buddhist practice; use of meditation in management of tendencies of ego. (Note to meditators. Use visualization to re-center and avoid the dynamics of conscious thought suppression.)
• Use in stimulating positive and prosocial emotions: compassion, empathy. (stories of suffering endured with growth)

• Note the emphasis on conscious use of methods that get at pre-conscious expression of emotion. The emotions are the "scene" for progress, not just a matter of rational control of emotions. more of a training model. While the meditations and use of mental imagery might seem a little far out to some of you, recall that this is being proposed within a naturalistic (evolutionary and neurological) model. He's making empirical predictions about how you can alter your responses to the conditions of your suffering.

Some General Points on Yoga

• samadhi - the goal of the spiritual practice of yoga; ecstasy, union; a mystical experience of enlightenment. mention connection to wisdom.

• Yoga, defined in various ways, also in relation to Vedanta narrative. dualism and monism in yogic thought.

• 3 periods pre-classical (or Vedanta), classical (Patanjali 2nd cent. CE), and post-classical (ex. Shankara, 8th cent). Important that Patanjali's period represents a dualist approach. Purusa / Prakrati. Spirit / Nature, roughly.

• Teacher/disciple model.

• Yoga is infused in multiple traditions: Hindu, Buddhist, and its own. Meditative figures on coins from 3,000 bc. Rig Veda has image of a yogi who, by achieving physical control through asanas (poses) and physical austerities (fasting, meditation, etc.) achieves access to a "deeper realm" of insights about reality.

• Yoga in Bhagavad Gita (Miller 10): Arjuna, warrior, locked in battle with his own kin. Important conversation with Krishna. (Pre-classical) Like Homeric, Yoga has a history in warrior culture and warrior ethos (duty). (mention Antigone)

Miller, Yoga: Discipline of Freedom, Introduction

• This is an introduction to her edition / translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

• "The aim of yoga is to eliminate the control that material nature exerts over the human spirit, to rediscover through introspective practice what the poet T. S. Eliot called the "still point of the turning world." " This is a state of perfect equilibrium and absolute spiritual calm, an interior refuge in the chaos of worldly existence. In the view of Patanjali, yogic practice can break habitual ways of thinking and acting that bind one to the corruptions of everyday life."

• basic analysis found in the "paradoxical nature of memory and thought itself" -- Our minds get us into trouble.
• solitude and turning away from the world are only stages and strategies. not a renunciation philosophy.
• Yoga is, fundamentally, an individual spiritual program. q. p 4 (ties in with meaning of "yoga" - spiritual yoke; discipline, but also integration of forces, like a yoke.

• From Samkhya dualism: everything is a mix of prakrati and purusa. 13: "The basis of spiritual liberation in the Yoga school is a profound experience of the evolutionary process whereby spirit becomes enmeshed in material nature."

• The Three Gunas (13): Lucidity (sattva), Passion (rajas), and inertia (tamas). Part of the problem of existence is that the faculties of understanding are material. Interesting difference from Western association of Reason with the Divine and Transcendent.

• The psychology of Patanjali's yoga: follow Miller's discussion of thought process (17) (citta), "tyranny of uncontrollable thought," reducing thought "traces" or "seeds". goal to make thought "invulnerable" to the chaos of mental and physical stimuli. to do that, we need to attend to how the mind produces desire, anger and delusion.

• In Patanjali:

• First, there's a process of "unenlightenment" -- Purusa becomes bound to prakrati. Enlightenment is about undoing the this entanglement. (Note again connection with Buddhism). q. p. 19: Ignorance...

• 1st Small group discussion activity:

• Look for and share experiences you have had that might be examples of the kind of untanglement and amplification of thought and emotion that Patanjali was thinking about when he suggested we pursue "seedless" thought. In what circumstances do you find that thought "feeds on itself" or becomes persistent. How does social psychology and phenomena such as gossip or drama create such situations? What practical attitudes and behaviors (imagine scenarios) might a person influence by a yogic model of happiness pursue in such situations?

Donna Farhi, "Cleaning up Our Act: The Four Brahmavihara

• Story of the deformed sage, Ashtavakra. Look beyond physical.

• Five Kleshas in Patanjali:

• 1. Avidha: Ignorance of our eternal nature
• 2. Asmita: Seeing oneself as separate and divided from the rest of ??the world
• 3. Raga: Attraction and attachment to impermanent things
• 4. Dvesha: Aversion to the unpleasant
• 5. Abhinivesha: Clinging to life because we fail to perceive the seamless continuity of consciousness, which cannot be broken by death (Yoga-Sutra 13)

• Note that the first two have to do with identity and the last three with desire. Maybe there's a connection between how I'm thinking about myself (as a self) and my ability to manage desire?

• Ashtanga Yoga -- eight fold program (from wikipedia):

Sanskrit	English
Yama	moral codes
Niyama	self-purification and study
Asana	posture
Pranayama	breath control
Pratyahara	sense control
Dharana	intention
Dhyana	meditation
Samadhi	contemplation

• note Fahri talks about "spiritual fitness". Does this make sense?

• The Brahmavihara are four attitudes Patanjali recommends developing:

• 1. Friendliness toward the joyful
• 2. Compassion for those who are suffering
• 3. Celebrating the good in others
• 4. Remaining impartial to the faults and imperfections of others(Yoga-Sutra 1.33)

• Notes on Brahmivihara:

• Note Fahri's more "social" focus. The first three Brahmavihara take us outside of ourselves.
• Compassion might involve the obvious, but also note leaving people "invisible" - reaching out. also "loving-kindness" meditation.
• 3: cultivating a habit of spontaneous appreciate, noticing (and working on) any jealousy effects.
• 4: note the "costs" of having an enemy. overcoming the need to fix situations.

• 62: cultivating "metta" - loving kindness meditation.

• 2nd small group discussion question

• Does making yourself calm and lucid in the way that yogics advocate entail being less active in your life? What sorts of activity

20: NOV 15 - 7. Gratitude and Savoring

Assigned

• Bryant, Fred, C1, “Concepts of Savoring: An Introduction” (23)
• Bryant, Fred, C8, “Enhancing Savoring” (27)

21: NOV 17

Assigned

• Emmons C23, “Gratitutde, SWB, and the Brain” (17)

22: NOV 22 - 8. Some Obstacles to Happiness and Wisdom

Assigned

• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C8, “Introspection and Self-narratives” (24)

23: NOV 29

Assigned

• Gilbert, "Why we Make Bad Decisions" (Ted talk) [10]
• Gilbert, C4, “In the Blind Spot of the Mind’s Eye” (21)
• Gilbert, C6, “The Future is Now” (16)

Gilbert, Chapter 4: In the Blind Spot of the Mind's Eye

• Comparions of Adolph Fisher & George Eastman. Point: Need to 2nd guess how we impose seemingly objective criteria on others' lives.

• Just because it's easier for us to imagine that a certain kind of future will bring happiness, and what we imagine might even be in line with objective research, it doesn't follow that other futures won't.

• Brain reweaves experience: study with cars and stop signs/yield signs. Information acquired after the event alters memory of the event.
• Two highly confirmed results: Memory fills in. We don't typically notice it happening. Word list excercise. 80 -- literal and metaphorical blindspots. experiments with interrupted sentences. We fill in.

• Model of Mind (84) Prior to 19th century:

"philosophers had thought of the senses as conduits that allowed information about the properties of objects in the world to travel from the object and into the mind. The mind was like a movie screen in which the object was rebroadcast. The operation broke down on occasion, hence people occasionally saw things as they were not. But when the senses were working properly, they showed what was there. This theory of realism was described in 1690 by the philosopher John Locke: brains "believe" they don't "make believe" .

• Model of Mind brought in with Kant at beginning of 1800's:

Kant's idealism: "Kant's new theory of idealism claimed that our perceptions are not the result of a physiological process by which our eyes somehow transmit an image of the world into our brains but rather, they are the result of a psychological process that combines what our eyes see with what we already think, feel, know, want, and believe, and then uses this combination of sensory information and preexisting knowledge to construct our perception of reality. "

• false belief test -- [11]

• Still, we act like realists: truck moving study-- we are first realists, but we learn to adopt an idealist perspective in social communication.
• We experience the world as if our interpretations were part of reality. We do not realize we are seeing an interpretation.
• We fill in details: imagine a plate of spaghetti. Very important for thinking about how we fill in the future. We carry out the exercise of imagining, and even make estimates of satisfaction, but the result depends upon which of the family of experiences picked out by "plate of spaghetti" we have in mind.
• point for happiness theories: p. 89.
• closes by giving you the narratives that make sense of the Fisher/Eastman comparison.

24: DEC 1

Assigned

• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C9, “Looking Outward to Know ourselves” (20)
• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C10, “Observing and Changing our Behavior” (18)

25: DEC 6

Assigned

• Gilbert, C8, “Paradise Glossed” (21)
• Gilbert, C9, “Immune to Reality” (23)