41901 Group Discussion

Timestamp Who was in your group? Give your group a short name Write a short paragraph response to some or all of the questions you were asked to consider. 9/2/2015 20:08:19 Caswell, McGaughey, Clawson, Jonhston, Chapin Highly Drink With Educated Water "Question 1: In certain regards we are making progress. Philosophy has expanded into new realms (environmental) but we don't feel as though the classic questions have not necessarily made progress towards their answer. So, depending on the definition of progress, it changes.

Question 2: We agree that it is not just a cultural activity, but we struggle to define the difference between art, lit, and philosophy. " 9/2/2015 20:08:50 Marchesini, Mckinnon, Skoog, Snow, Webster Infertility "1. We looked at an application of progress to human beings in general. This is where all of us went to begin looking at progression in general. Then we asked what are we progressing toward? Is there in an end goal? We did not think that we could totally say that Philosophy progressed. This is a little bit to confining of a word because of Philosophy unique way of going through history. Philosophy has a way of continuing onward, but we had trouble defining it in combination with the definition of progressing. 2. Different cultures can effect the way that people think. Therefore, it is hard to say that it is not cultural. It is something that is informed by culture, but it is not necessarily a cultural activity. It is a cultural object in itself. However, certain philosophers are able to transcend into universal things that we all can study. We try to study these philosophers that get closest to this universal thinking. " 9/3/2015 14:02:38 Sarah, Paige, Janelle, Matt, Connor, Janelle's Friend Danielle Philz "• What is happiness? • Is it possible for people to be equally happy by doing different things? • Can happiness be observed by anyone outside of one’s own person?

Don't think it is possible to determine whether someone is actually happy. Just can't be done." 9/3/2015 14:04:45 Cameron Chase, Keely Cannon, Ian Staeheli We felt it would be more effective to ask three questions directly to Pat and Lee regarding what they felt "happiness" was and how they felt their own lives met the criteria they had defined. Asking three questions to decide who is happier assumes that there is a set a universal criteria for achieving happiness and that meeting or failing to meet these objectives would make a person more, or less, happy. We disagreed with this assumption. 9/3/2015 14:05:14 Anna Kirdahy, Kate Harding, Nick Minteer, Dee Jay, Meggie AKNDM "Did they act morally? Did they achieve their realistic life goals? Are they satisfied with their life?" 9/3/2015 14:05:19 Morgan, Angela, Jacqueline, Matt The Alfinos "We reject the question on the basis that happiness is innately subjective. Objective inquiries about happiness tend to focus on concrete things, such as money, or family, or health, whereas we posit that happiness results from the far more abstract question: what do we value? When our lives align with what we truly, authentically value, we are in theory, happy. This necessitates that happiness is simply innately different for each and every person, because we each value different things (though obviously influences such as culture group us into groups with similar [but not identical] values).

Question: what would Pat and Lee's happiness look like if you took all their possessions away? How do material things influence happiness? " 9/3/2015 14:05:46 Melanie, Megan, Shelby, Maggie MMMS We all agree that happiness is subjective. So the first question would be is there a way to measure happiness between two different people? If this isn't true, then the rest of the question can not be determined. If happiness is based on pleasure, can you rank intrinsic pleasures between two different people? Which again, if you can't do this than we will never know who was happier. Does someone need to experience low points in life (such as a death in the family etc.) to achieve a higher level of happiness? 9/3/2015 14:05:51 Anna Kirdahy, Kate Harding, Nick Minteer, Dee Jay, Meggie AKNDM "Did they act morally? Did they achieve their realistic life goals? Are they satisfied with their life?" 9/3/2015 14:06:17 Nate Ryan, Chase Andersen, Ryan Sullivan "What three questions would you need to answer to be able to determine whether Pat or Lee was happier? Is it possible?

We concluded that it would not be possible to determine if either Pat or Lee was happier. Happiness does not seem to be purely objectively measured and so comparing one's version of happiness to another isn't possible. Each person has their own idea of happiness and what provides happiness and those factors' weights, and so a unanimous conclusion deciding if one person is happier than another isn't reasonable.

This question could be applied to another two individuals lifestyles. Compare the life of a Viking to that of perhaps a social workers. The former finds happiness in the war and violence among other things and the latter has a life more consistent with today's ""happy"" norms. "