Happiness Fall 2017 Class Notes
From Alfino
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
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
Methods
- conceptual analysis of subjective and objective in Vitrano; think of this as a basic dimension of theoretical space for happiness.
- Haybron's mention of method, p. 10.
- we're also acquiring bigger "classes of cases" to theorize from. (Jane and the Pidana)
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 (adding constraints to subjectivism):
- 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.
Questions
- Do you have to achieve your goals to be happy?
- Do you have to have goals to be happy?
- What is your analysis of Jane's situation?
- What does it mean for our theory of happiness that there is happiness among the poorest people of earth and that cultures model happiness in significantly different ways (radically diff balances of PA/NA as in the Piraha)?
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