Study Guide for test one !

The Philosophy of Happiness

Sep 21st

 1. The direction of wisdom, says Andre Comte-Sponville, is what?

2. What's Lenoir's definition (so far) of happiness?

3. What's Matthieu Ricard's "primary aspiration"?

4. The pursuit of happiness demands what from us?

5. Who said "full and complete happiness does not exist on earth" but is an "ideal of imagination"?

6. What kind of happiness did Socrates and Jesus seek?

Quiz Sep19

1. Are curiosity and awareness both prerequisite to living happily and well, according to Lenoir?

2. Which French essayist said happiness is amplified when we take deliberate delight in it?

3. What aspect of pleasure have post-Darwinian biologists emphasized?

4. For Aristotle, happiness requires what tandem quest?

5. Who said 90% of happiness depends on health?

6. How did Viktor Frankl differ from Freud on the question of meaning?

Quiz Sep14

1. More important than whether you're happy, says Haybron, is what?

2. What makes civilization possible?

3. As a general rule, says Haybron, selfish and shallow people don't look _____.

4. A more demanding notion of the good life must meet what standard?

5. Does Haybron recommend scheduling quality family time?

6. What does Kahneman say about "focusing illusions"?

Quiz Sep12

1. According to Haybron, is it credible to claim that genetics render some people incapable of being happier?

2. What do studies show about consumerist materialism and intrinsic motivation?

3. At what $ level do happiness and income "cease to show a pretty substantial link"?

4. What does an Aristotelian nature-fulfillment theory of happiness find objectionable about the experience machine scenario?

5. What do Desire theories have trouble explaining?

6. How might a philosophical theory of well-being settle the strivers vs. enjoyers debate?

Quiz Sep7

1. Is satisfaction with your life the same as thinking it's going well?

2. Does rating your life satisfaction provide reliably objective insight into your degree of happiness?

3. In what sense do "most people actually have good lives"?

4. Can the science of happiness tell us which groups tend to be happier?

5. What (verbally-expressed, non-numerical) ratio of positive over negative emotional states does happiness probably require?

6. What percentage of American college students said they'd considered suicide?

Quiz Sep 5

1. How does the author's Dad describe existence "on the Pond"?

2. What does Big Joe the commercial fisherman feel at the end of his working day, and how does he feel generally?

3 . Your posture or stride reveals something deeper than what?

4. The author says moments like the one depicted in the photo on p.18 involve no what?

5. Who developed the notion of flow?

 6. Tranquility, confidence, and expansiveness are aspects of what state of mind/body?

7. Though your temperament may be more or less fixed, your ___ may be more or less prone to change with circumstances.

8. What famous western Buddhist says happiness is an optimal state of being, much more than a feeling?

Quiz Aug 31

1. Who has frequently been held up by philosophers as a paradigm of happiness?

2. What nation did Gallup find to be happiest in terms of daily experience?

3. What does Haybron say will most likely NOT be on your deathbed list of things you'd like to experience again before you go?

4. What was Aristotle's word for happiness, and what did he particularly not mean by it?

5. Which of Haybron's three happiness theories is not mainly concerned with feelings?

6. Why does Haybron consider "subjective well-being" unhelpful?