In Group 2, we discussed project ideas, eventually landing on an exploration of systems that hope to guarantee happiness. In doing this, we came across many interesting questions. The main ones were, in an example such as a self help book, is the author really guaranteeing happiness, or are they simply prescribing a method that worked for them? As well as, are these sort of systems willing victims to the placebo effect? We also discussed if the placebo effect was the bad thing, which hearkens back to our earlier class discussions about the importance of where your happiness is derived.
I personally think that a self help book is fine, if we can actually document its affect on the population. While a book on how to cope after your son dies seems plausible, I personally believe books on more permanent chemical conditions are irresponsible.
- William
P.S. Sorry it took me so long to get this up! I've been getting dominated by life.
Assuming it is intentional, I like your use of "affect" in the second paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI am curious as to how many people there are for whom self-help books were instrumental, rather than incidental, in their rise to success or happiness, as it may be. Indeed, many think of success, a concept often imposed and accepted, as their path to lasting happiness. So, how many successful (as defined by the person in question) people ascribe their success to self-help books? My impression is that those who are successful are not those who read books about being successful. Which is to say that many of the qualities self-help books praise, such as diligence, are not easily taught. When some acknowledge their procrastination, they merely acquiesce in it.
Discussion question:
What is happiness worth to you?
Factual question:
What is the title of Thoreau's essay and lecture on the subject of walking?
Answer- Walking
Link: http://thoreau.eserver.org/walking.html
I agree with your idea that self-help books may not be able to create a personality trait like diligence. Also, some people may know what their flaws are, like procrastination, and accept it. I feel like most people know a lot of their weaknesses already, but I suppose self-help books could be an inspirational motive to self-improvement for some. Whether or not it really creates a significant,lasting positive impact in one's life is another question to explore.
DeleteDuring class we decided to pick several different frameworks that seek to help their subscribers find happiness...... it occurred to me, after happy hour, that maybe we should compare these in an attempt to discern a common methodology that may be applied even more broadly......in the reading it states that several philosophers claim that true genius is invariably cloaked in melancholy.
ReplyDeleteDISCUSSION QUESTION: Christ, Buddha, and other religious figures are held by some to be "geniuses" in their own right. They are also held to be joyful in a manner that equates with the Greek idea of a sanguine temperament. Why does it appear that secular genius is accoutered in melancholy while the religious genius is seen as sanguine?
FACTUAL QUESTION: What were Teihard's three attitudes towards life and happiness? 1) the constricted, 2) the hedonist, and 3) the enthusiast.
LINK: Not really a link, but Dan Millman's book "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" has done much to help me find my own personal happiness.
Discussion question:Does anyone agree with Aristotle in thinking that when you reach old age you will be less happy or grumpy? The book says that people over 65, with good health, are more satisfied with their lives, but does anyone feel the opposite? or agree?
ReplyDeleteFactual question: Who invited followers to "live retired" in a garden surrounded by friends, enjoying simple pleasures, but staying away from public?
answer: Epicurus
I'm not entirely sure what you meant by
ReplyDelete"I personally believe books on more permanent chemical conditions are irresponsible", but a lot of books on the psychology of happiness and well-being, such as those written by Martin Seligman, particularly Flourish, have sort of disclaimers if you will- stating it is in no way a self-help book, but if taken in the right context, the book Flourish makes the bold claim in the intro that it will in fact allow you to flourish as a human being upon reading. Seligman used to be head of the APA and began the positive psychology movement in a way, so he does have a bit of credibility to his name.
My opinion on the placebo effect is that if one is naturally more likely to experience placebo effects, then more power to them. They are more swayed by the everyday phenomena of the world in my opinion, and in this, experience a broader spectrum of life with less concrete stimuli to help get them there.
ahhh self help books.
ReplyDeletei personally don't feel like these books are all that trustworthy. i feel like the author is writing about what worked for them personally and thought they would write a book in the hopes of making some money with a side effect that it might help someone else.
it seems that people always need someone else to tell them what will make them happy or successful. i feel since we are all different that there is just no way to "teach" someone how to achieve it.
I think the experience of a self help book varies greatly, as we've all touched on here, depending on the individual reading it. Regardless of content, there's a sense of necessity to be willing to accept what's being written with both a grain of salt and a harsh look inward. If we find inconsistencies between the text and our lives, we'll also find places to question and probe our personal methodology. Is it working in making me happy? Would the suggestion in the book be better/worse/etc? Do I want to try to change this? Why or why not? And so on.
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in our discoveries on this topic, and I want to stress that while I agree with Ken (we should definitely try to communally find some similarities among our specific topics), I feel as though we should really take this opportunity to introspect and try applying some of the advice to ourselves (be it literally or in concept/thoughts). Then and only then should we really attempt making a personal Pro's/Con's list. Without this crucial step of "How does this apply to me?", we may run into what James mentioned--a judgmental and overly dismissive attitude or, worse, an over simplification of the text itself in terms of "good" and "bad" qualities instead of looking at real and possible potentials. Either way, super stoked.
I REALLY like that we're touching on the tendency to rely on others to tell us what we should be doing in these books, meanwhile we're reinforcing our poor behaviors by admitting out loud that we're like that and looking for solutions outside rather than within (which, ironically, is where those solutions are, at least in my opinion).
Factual: What philosopher from the Greek island of Kos has an Oath (that graduating doctors take) named after him? Answer: Hippocrates
Discussion: To what extent can we trace some of our more unflinching outlooks on life to our parents? Can you name something that you do/think/feel/etc., that you strongly disagree with conceptually, but can't help but feel because of the way your parents either raised you or were like when around you growing up?
Example: My mother can never look in a mirror or talk about image without bashing herself. Even though I feel beautiful and think of myself as such, there are times that her voice takes over and I harshly judge myself in the same way. To describe the emotion--I feel defeated by some disembodied jury, and the self that I know to be confident and happy takes a backseat while insults hurl themselves at my apparent image. I can squash these, and have done so with increasing ease and rapidity as I've grown older, but the initial onslaught is always off-putting. I don't blame my mother for this, nor am I asking for all of us to go down a tirade about bad parenting, but I CAN and often DO like realizing where some of my more discomforting thoughts may have originated.
Sorry if this was a little too personal for some, I just felt like sharing and I've been pretty curious about just how much people around me (especially in my philosophy classes) try to root out their more negative thoughts. This has been on my mind pertaining to this class because it seems like we're all trying extra hard to prove how happy we are, when we KNOW that there are voices like the one I just described that plague most all of us. How do we deal with it?
Link: http://www.kheper.net/topics/typology/eysenck_chart.gif
An image of the humors and their emotional counterparts :)
To retract the blanket statement "all trying extra hard to prove...(et cetera)," I know that many of us have openly admitted enjoyment of the full range of emotions. I meant more along the lines of trying to put off that this eventually becomes part of happiness. We haven't really touched on just how difficult it is to struggle with the negative. We've mentioned it, but I feel as though we've been trying to act like it's nothing we can't handle to avoid sounding like victims or pity-partiers. I know it's nothing we can't handle...but there's bound to be a point where we start getting to the nitty-gritty counterpart of happiness--those moments where we have to figure out an exit strategy because the world is closing in on us.
DeleteI can't help but remember Carlin when self-help books are brought up.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/BCsM35H9TFA?t=24s