Happiness Fall 2015 Reading Schedule

9/1/2015	Course Introduction
9/3/2015	Readings: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Book 1; McMahon, Ch. 1. Focus: The Aristotle reading gives a classic statement of the nature of happiness, so track that. McMahon is writing an intellectual history of happiness. In general with McMahon you should identify key turning points and developments, along with major figures associated with them. You might want to read the McMahon chapter first. |-
9/8/2015	Readings: Haidt, Ch. 5; Schimmack. Focus: Jonathan Haidt will give you a broader view of happiness which anticipates some topics we read more about later in the course. Notice how he is trying to connection classical thought on happiness with contemporary psychology. Schimmack is a challenging and detailed text. You should double or triple your usual time for reading it. As with a lot of research intensive articles, the focus should be on how specific research results support theoretical hypotheses about happiness. You don't need to have a technical knowledge of the experiments being discussed, but you should understand the theoretical implications for happiness from any experimental conditions or survey research.
9/10/2015	Readings: Argyle; Diener and Suh. Focus: With Argyle you are getting a broad research-based introduction to happiness. Try to summarize the main findings from category or causes considered, such as Age, Education, Social Status, Income, Marriage, Ethnicity, Employment, Leisure, Religion, and life events. Diener and Suh take us into the international research literature. Try to track their methodological issues at the begining, then track some of the factors that correlate with happiness cross-culturally, as well as differences. Consider their models for explaining differences.
9/15/2015	Readings: Haidt, Ch 1.
9/17/2015	Readings: McMahon, Ch. 2; Miller; Fahri, Ch. 6. Focus: In McMahon, focus on the contrast he develops between classical and Christian views of happiness. The story of Perpetua and Felicitas seems important. Barbara Miller gives us an overview of Pantjali's Yoga Sutras. Make sure that you can identify the aims and methods of yoga and think about the relationship between them. In the Fahri reading, the focus will naturally fall on the four brahmavihara.
9/22/2015	Readings: Siderits, Ch. 2; Pali Canon. Focus: In Siderits, make sure you focus on the basic account of Buddha's life and the four noble truths. Understand the Buddhists diagnose of unhappiness and the remedy suggested. The Greater Discourse on Mindfulness should reinforce the account in Siderits, giving you an example of an historic teaching on the four noble truths.
9/24/2015	Readings: Epictetus; Epicurus, Principle Doctrines and Letter to Meneoceus. Focus:These documents encapsulate both Stoic thought and Epicurean thought. We'll get into some details, but try to identify main teachings and what each of these philosophies might look like in practice. Note shocking claims!
9/29/2015	Readings: Irvine, Chs. 4 and 5. Focus: With Irvine we get a modern effort to develop Stoic thought and psychology. Focus on the concept of negative visualization in Chapter 4. In chapter 5, Irvine discusses and suggests a revision to the stoic doctrine of the dichotomy of control. Try to follow the reasoning for the revision he proposes.
10/1/2015	Readings: Gilbert, Ch. 1; McMahon, Chs. 3 and 4. Focus: Gilbert is making an interpretation about happiness from psychology research. So in reading him, you need to track both the point of the specific research results he discusses (almost all non-technical) and the argument he's making about them. McMahon is going to take two more huge steps through Western European history of happiness. Try to notice the various kinds of cultural developments and philosophical ideas that are changing in relation to happiness from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment.
10/6/2015	Readings: Gilbert, Chs. 2 and 3. Focus: These two chapters take us into Gilbert's view further. In 2, focus on the question of the objectivity of happiness given different scales we might use to report it. Chapter 3 is meant to undermine some of our assumptions about awareness. Focus especially on evidence of discrepancies between our experience and awareness.
10/8/2015	Readings: Haidt, Ch. 6; de Botton, Lovelessness (vi - 10 - first few pages of debottonStatusAnxietyexcerpts.pdf), Brooks, The social animal. Focus: Here we'll focus on love as a distinctive domain of happiness. From Haidt we get some contemporary psychological accounts of love, especially attachment theory. The de Botton reading is short (for today's class) and makes a very specific point. Brooks raises the question of what levels there may be to love as a natural phenomenon.
10/13/2015	Mid-term Exam today for those of you who have this in your grading scheme.
10/15/2015	Readings: de Botton, Expectation; de Botton, Meritocracy (in debottonStatusAnxietyexcerpts.pdf); Gilbert, Chs. 4 and 5. Focus: de Botton will continue the theme we mentioned at the end of class last time -- about the implications of the need for love from the world. He's our most philosophical-sociological author to date and the style is pretty casual, but he usually signals his major claims and arguments pretty well. Gilbert, chapters 4 and 5 take us from more research on blind spots and biases in cognition to the problem of how the mind imagines the future. Track studies and suggested implications.
10/20/2015	Readings: Gilbert, Chs. 6 and 7, MacMahon Ch. 5. Focus:
10/22/2015	Readings: Csiksentmihalyi, Chs. 1, 2, and 3. Focus: Csiksentmiahlyi focuses us more concretely on the emotional qualities that everyday life activities have. He's also presenting his main theoretical concept in these readings: flow.
10/27/2015	Readings: Bryant, Ch. 1; Emmons. Focus: Alot of the work in Bryant Ch. 1 is definitional and theoretical. Try to follow the process Bryant takes you through in defining savoring. Emmons spends less time on definition, but some. Note both claims about how savoring and gratitude function, as well as efforts to manipulate it.
10/29/2015	Readings: Bryant, Ch. 8; Watkins. Focus:Watkins gives us more research on gratitude. Bryant Chapter 2 is more of a practical guide to savoring experience. Savoring practicum students should take particular note here.
11/3/2015	Readings: Diener and Diener; Csiksentmihalyi Ch. 6. Focus:The focus here should be on how each author theorizes the importance of relationships. Try to compare the accounts a bit.
11/5/2015	Readings: Haidt, Ch. 9. Focus:As an extension of our work on relationships, Haidt considers vertical ones. Track his somewhat speculative theory about the psychology and physiology of elevation.
11/11/2015	Readings: Gilbert, Chs. 8 and 9. Focus: These two chapters get at some of the ways we seem to be able to alter our perceptions of reality. Follow major studies and Gilbert's concept of the psychological immune system.
11/12/2015	Readings: McMahon, Ch. 6. Focus: This chapter represents historical and cultural reflection on commercialism and the growth of material culture. Track major theses considered and evidence. |-
11/7/2015	Readings: Death 1. To love that well, which thou must leave ere long Sonnet 73, Shakespeare From the radio program To the Best of Our Knowledge: HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY, including the following segments: Happiness Studies - Dave Myers, History of the Smile - Angus Trumble, Progress Paradox - Gregg Easterbrook, 21 Grams - Guillermo Arriaga, Coping with Death - Loren Ladner. I'm primarily interested in the last two segments (the interview with Arriaga and Ladner), but you may want to listen to the whole thing (about 55 minutes). You can download the mp3 by right-clicking <a href=../../courses/419/TBOOK_happiness.mp3>here</a> or go to the radio show's website at www.ttbook.org and look up the Feb. 13, 2005 show. For more information about the show click<a href=../../courses/419/TBOOK_happines_Info.htm>here</a>. Look at a couple of Wikipedia articles to get some quick knowledge: <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol#External_links>Bardo Thodol</a>, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_realms>Six Realms</a> Browse the <a href=http://www.summum.us/mummification/tbotd/>Bardo Thodol</a> online Montaigne, <a href=http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/montaigne/1xix.htm>That to Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die</a>. Only Essay #19! Memento Mori: Read this wiki page on the idea of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori>Memento Mori</a>. Francois LeLord, Hector Contemplates His Own Death, from Hector and the Search for Happiness, p. 87-92.
11/19/2015	Readings:Bok, Ch. 3 and 4 Focus:
12/24/2015	Thanksgiving Holiday
12/1/2015	Readings:Graham, excerpt, pp. 66-73, Chapters 7 and 8. Focus:
12/3/2015	Activity: Discussion of Theories! Try to finish your papers for today, but bring your work to compare with others in your small groups. Let's call this the semi-official due date for the papers. Certainly try to turn them in by the end of the week.
12/8/2015	Activity: Review for Final.
11/10/2015	Optional Workshop class on papers and study questions.