Happiness Fall 2015 Schedule
| SEP 03 | Course Introduction
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| SEP 4 | Readings: McMahon, Ch. 1. Focus: 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. Here, notice how he contrasts Greek culture with the radical new philosophical teachings of the classical philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. |
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| SEP 9 | Readings: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Book 1 Focus: You might remind yourself of Aristotle's view as summarized in McMahon before reading this. Section 6 can be skipped unless you are a philosophy minor or major. Notice also Aristotle's "method" in his investigation. How does he mix rational argumentation with empirical observation? |
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| SEP 11 | Readings: Haidt, Ch. 5; 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. |
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| SEP 16 | Readings:Schimmack, Ch. 6 Focus: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. |
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| SEP 18 | Readings:Haidt, Chapter 1, "The Divided Self" Focus: Apologies to those of you who have read this in other classes. It's a pretty useful text for me because it reminds me that organism we're thinking about the happiness of has this sort of brain. That doesn't mean that the structure or natural history of our brains determines happiness, but try to look for ways that it might constrain it. |
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| SEP 23 | Readings: Michael Argyle, "Causes and Correlates of Happiness" 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. |
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| SEP 25 | Readings: Diener and Suh Focus: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. |
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| SEP 30 | Readings: Epictetus, "The Enchiridion" Focus: Epictetus is a later stoic, but leaves a relatively complete statement of the stoic philosophy. Our goal will be to understand it and then consider it's implications for happiness. As read, you may ask yourself if the stoic is really so concerned about happiness. |
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| OCT 2 | Readings: Epicurus, "Letter to Menoeceus"; "Principal Doctrines" Focus: Here we have the founder's word, though again so much from these Hellenistic schools has been lost (or not yet found). Keep reminding yourself that this is hedonism, because it won't always sound like it. Consider the implicit analysis of desire in Epicurus' doctrines. |
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| OCT 9 | Readings:Irvine, Chs. 4+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. |
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| OCT 14 | Readings:McMahon, Chapter 2 Focus:In McMahon, focus on the contrast he develops between classical and Christian views of happiness. The story of Perpetua and Felicitas seems important. |
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| OCT 16 | Readings:McMahon, Chapter 3 Focus: Chapter 3 takes us from the renaissance (14-15th centuries in Florence) right up to the Enlightenment. We get to see the emergence of modern symbols and cultural markers of happiness, such as smiles in paintings, but also the interaction of theology with the emerging view. Note that this is a time of growing wealth in Europe. |
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| OCT 21 | Readings:Miller; Fahri Focus: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. |
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| OCT 23 | Mid-term Exam today for those of you who have this in your grading scheme. |
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| OCT 28 | Readings:Siderits; 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. |
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| OCT 30 | Readings:Ricard, Chapters 6 and 7 Focus: As with Donna Farhi, Ricard gives us an explication of suffering, the ego and the self in a contemporary idiom. You might check out Ricard's life. He's pretty interesting as well. |
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| NOV 4 | 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. |
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| NOV 6 | Readings:Bryant, Ch. 8; Watkins. Gilbert Chatper 1 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. 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. |
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| NOV 11 | Readings:Gilbert Chapters 2, 3, and 4 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. |
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| NOV 13 | Readings:Csiksentmihayli, Chapters 1, 2, 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. |
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| NOV 18 | Readings:Csiksentmihalyi Chapter 6; Diener and Diener, Chapter 4, "Happiness and Social Relationships", recommended: Haidt, "Divinity with or without God" Focus: Here you get two theoretical approaches to the importance of relationship, the humanist psychological and a more quantitative model. I recommend that you also glance at Haidt's "Divinity with or Without God," which is in ereserves but didn't make the reading list this term. It's quite insightful about our capacity, psychologically, to have a relationship with God. |
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| NOV 20 | Readings:Haidt, Ch. 6, "Love and Attachment"; de Botton, "Lovelessness" (vi - 10 - first few pages of "debottonStatusAnxietyexcerpts.pdf"), Brooks, "The Social Animal.""
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| NOV 25 | Readings:McMahon Chapter 6; Gilbert Chapter 5 Focus: |
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| DEC 2 | Readings: Gilbert 6 and 7 Focus: |
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| DEC 4 | Readings:Death Class "To love that well, which thou must leave ere long" Sonnet 73, Shakespeare
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| DEC 9 | Readings:Gilbert 8 and 9; Discuss papers Focus: |
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| DEC 11 | REVIEW Focus: |
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