Happy Lives, Good Lives: A Philosophical Examination

ISBN-13: 9781554811007 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 344 str.

M.J. Mulnix

Opis

We all want to be happy, but what does that mean? Happy Lives, Good Lives offers a thorough introduction to a variety of perspectives on happiness. Valuable insights are inferred from both philosophical and scientific research into the nature of happiness, and a range of examples of very different but equally happy lives are considered.

Spis treści

Preface
Online Materials

PART I: THINKING ABOUT THE NATURE AND VALUE OF HAPPINESS

Chapter 1: Introduction

• Who Is the Happy Person?
  Three Theories of Happiness
  The Value of Happiness
  Overview of the Book

Chapter 2: Intuitions about Happiness

• Is Happiness Only a State of Mind?
  Is Happiness More Than a Mental State?
  Can We Be Wrong about Our Own Happiness?
  Is Happiness under Our Control?

Chapter 3: Happy Lives, Good Lives, and Moral Lives

• Is What’s Good for You Good for Me?
  Happiness: Description or Evaluation?
  How Might the Happy Life Be Connected to the Good Life?
  The Happy Life and the Moral Life

PART II: HAPPINESS AS PLEASURE

Chapter 4: The Feel-Good Feature of Happiness

• Varieties of Hedonism
  Can Happiness Be Measured? The Felicific Calculus
  Remembering versus Experiencing Happy Events
  The Worry of Adaptation
  We Love Happy Endings
  Is There Just One Type of Pleasure Feeling?
  Desiring Things Other Than for How They Feel

Chapter 5: Taking Pleasure in Things and Feeling Joy

• Pleasure Is an Attitude, Not a Feeling
  Where’s the Fun in Happiness?
  Do We Actually Want Those Things That Bring Us Pleasure?
  Happiness Is Deep, Man
  The Problem with Feelings

PART III: HAPPINESS AS SATISFACTION

Chapter 6: Satisfied with What?

• Local Desire Satisfactionism
  Whole Life Satisfactionism
  That Which Is, Was, and Will Be
  Not Happy? Just Lower Your Standards
  Mistakes Come Easy: The Contextual, Arbitrary, and Fickle Nature of Life Satisfaction
  Do We — or Can We — Even Make Life Satisfaction Judgments?

Chapter 7: It’s All about Perspective

• Putting Things in Perspective
  Value-Based Life Satisfaction
  Figuring Out What We Want
  Is Being Satisfied Enough?
  Revisiting the Cult Experience

PART IV: HAPPINESS AS EUDAIMONIA

Chapter 8: Is Ignorance Bliss?

• Do We Value Things outside Our Subjective Experience?
  Are We Talking about Well-Being or Happiness?
  Can We Be Happily Deceived?
  Are Happiness and Well-Being the Same?
  What of Moral Virtue?

Chapter 9: Happiness, Moral Virtue, and the Purpose of Life

• The Transformative Power of Virtue
  The King, the Tyrant, and the Democrat: The Role of Pleasure in the Life of Virtue
  The Complete Life
  The Psychological Rewards of the Eudaimon Life
  A Theory of Capabilities
  How Much Is Enough?

Chapter 10: Finding Equanimity in the Face of Suffering

• Equanimity as the Goal
  The Determined Universe: A Lesson in What Lies within and beyond Our Control
  The Science of Mindfulness
  Overcoming Irrationality and Dealing with Loss
  Finding Meaning in Suffering

PART V: APPLICATIONS AND FURTHER QUESTIONS

Chapter 11: Justice and National Happiness

• Can National Happiness Be Measured?
  Measuring Happiness in Terms of Wealth
  Indexing Subjective Well-Being
  Building a List for Happiness: A Capabilities Index
  The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number?

Chapter 12: Concluding Reflections

• References
  Index