Does the pursuit of happiness make us miserable?

Americans and the British, in particular, downplay negative emotions in favour of putting on a happy face. But sadness is an important part of life https://t.co/HW4bznaRzx @Delistraty

— Aeon (@aeonmag) November 1, 2019

Final report solo presentations

Post your topic in a comment below, as soon as you know it. It can be a continuation of your midterm topic, OR based on a new text you're sharing with us in November, OR on something else. Think of it as less a report than a preview of your final blog post. I suggest you go ahead and post an early draft, including quiz and discussion questions, to support your presentation. Be brief, 5 minutes or so + discussion. Final blog post due Dec. 7.

Th 14: Ed-Positive Psychology; Kathryn-Alan Watts' The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are; Levi-

T 19: Max- ;  Allison-Daniel Nettle's book Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile;  Graham-

Th 21:  Paivi- ; Martin- ; Magdu-

T 26: Chelsea- ; Marshall- ; Kellum- ; Henry-

Alan Watts - The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

     I have decided to read Alan Watts' The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are for my last book on happiness. Alan Watts was famous in the 1960s and 70s for bringing Eastern philosophies to the West. Though he is called a 'philosopher,' he actually held a master's in theology and went through Zen training in New York. He was born in Britain but became famous while living in California. And, although he focused on teaching Buddhism, he also taught about the Hindu and Christian faiths. Admittedly, much of his teachings on Christianity focused primarily on the trauma and confusion it can cause the human psyche, especially on young minds. However, this may have been the result of his own Catholic upbringing.
     In the first chapter, Inside Information, Watts introduces the problem that he wishes to address. Namely:

We suffer from a hallucination, from a false and distorted sensation of our own existence as living organisms. Most of us have the sensation that "I myself" is a separate center of feeling and action, living inside and bounded by the physical body - a center which "confronts" an "external world of people and things, making contact through the senses with a universe both alien and strange. (p.8)

     He goes on to point out two results of this collective hallucination. The first is that we hold a hostile attitude towards the "outside" world that "ignores the basic interdependence of all things and events." (p.9) And, this leads to our desire to "conquer nature." Another result of this hallucination is what Watts' refers to as the human race having "no common sense." He states that this leads to us living as "a muddle of conflicting opinions united by force of propaganda [which] is the worst possible source of control for a powerful technology." (p.10)

     The rest of the text focuses on what we truly are; namely, that you are the whole universe "expressing itself." One of my favorite lines in the book is:

Thus the soul is not in the body, but the body in the soul, and the soul is the entire network of relationships and processes which make up your environment, and apart from which you are nothing." (p.69) 

And, how we may come to recognize our true selves by becoming aware of the many cultural games that help keep up the hallucination, such as The Game of Black-and-White and How To Be A Genuine Fake (which also correspond to the names of chapters two and three).
     Watts' hope is that by helping us wake up to this understanding he may help eliminate much of the personal and worldly suffering that arises out of the common hallucination. He expresses many times how the belief in this hallucination leads to feelings of lonliness, anger, frustration and isolation, along with a separation from the natural world. And, his desire is to help others find peace by knowing their true selves. It is in this way that this text can be seen as Watts' philosophy of happiness.
     Throughout The Book, Watts' Eastern views about the nature of things and his proclivity towards the Hindu and Buddhist religions are evident. I have included the first two audio chapters from YouTube below. And, in some instances, Alan Watts is even speaking himself. Feel free to follow the links to the rest of the chapters if you enjoy these. 

Quiz Questions:
1. What was Alan Watts famous for?
2. What is the common hallucination that we suffer from, according to Watts?
3. How does this hallucination effect our feelings toward the natural world?
4. How can we overcome the hallucination?

Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think that we wonder (and worry) so much about what happens to us when we die, but do not give equal weight of consideration to what was happening to us before we were born? Could this be a result of our efforts to construct the "self" in this life?
2. If Eastern religions believe what Watts espouses, why do you think they do not have a more harmonious relationship with the natural world? (I'm thinking of pollution issues in China here.)

Posts I commented on:

https://philoshap.blogspot.com/2019/12/grahams-final-draft-of-final-blog-post.html

https://philoshap.blogspot.com/2019/11/more-alan-watts.html

Happy Halloween

Take a base if you bring treats to class today.

Today is All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween. The modern holiday comes from an age-old tradition honoring the supernatural blending of the world of the living and the world of the dead. Halloween is based on a Celtic holiday called Samhain. The festival marked the start of winter and the last stage of the harvest, the slaughtering of animals. It was believed that the dark of winter allowed the spirits of the dead to transgress the borders of death and haunt the living.

Eventually, Christian holidays developed at around the same time. During the Middle Ages, November 1 became known as All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day. The holiday honored all of the Christian saints and martyrs. Medieval religion taught that dead saints regularly interceded in the affairs of the living. On All Saints’ Day, churches held masses for the dead and put bones of the saints on display. The night before this celebration of the holy dead became known as All Hallows’ Eve. People baked soul cakes, which they would set outside their house for the poor. They also lit bonfires and set out lanterns carved out of turnips to keep the ghosts of the dead away. WA

Holocaust survivors here today

Two Holocaust survivors will discuss their personal experiences at MTSU on Wednesday, October 30^th. The event, presented by the MTSU Holocaust Studies Program Committee, is free and open to both the university and the general public.

    ​Please consider coming to the event and bringing your classes, family, and friends as well.  It is a rare opportunity to see two first generation survivors speak in public, an opportunity that gets increasingly rare with each passing year.  These two speakers have especially interesting stories to tell.

Frances Cutler Hahn was a hidden child in France. Born in 1938, she was very young when her parents hid her in a Catholic children’s home to save her life.  During the Holocaust she practiced two religions, had five names and took refuge in seven homes with eight different families.  Her mother was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau and her father, a member of the French resistance, died of wounds he suffered in combat. She will talk about what impact these experiences have had on her life and attitudes.

Jack Cohen, born in 1932 in Greece, lived as quietly as possible in the Italian occupied section of Greece from 1941 until the Germans began arresting and deporting Greek Jews to the ghettos and death camps in 1943.  The family fled to a monastery in the mountains for two years until it became too dangerous to remain there.  Once again the family fled, this time to a small village, until the end of the war.  Although most of the family survived, Jack’s grandmother was captured and, presumably, murdered. They never saw her again. 

  

These presentations will take place at 2:20 p.m. in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building this Wednesday, October 30^th.  For more information, email or phone Holocaust Studies Program Chair  Dr. Nancy Rupprecht (nancy.rupprecht@mtsu.edu or 615-898-2546) or Liberal Arts Events Coordinator Connie Huddleston (Connie.Huddleston@mtsu.edu or 615-494-7628.) 

If you or your friends do not have parking passes, they can be obtained at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php

This event is co-sponsored by the MTSU Holocaust Studies Program, College of Liberal Arts, and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission. 

Leibniz vs. Spinoza

LISTEN. Since the subject of Leibniz and Spinoza came up... [plus a story about a possum]

The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza & the Fate of God in the Modern World
by
Matthew Stewart

According to Nietzsche, "Every great philosophy is... a personal confession of its creator and a kind of involuntary and unperceived memoir.". Stewart affirms this maxim in his colorful reinterpretation of the lives and works of 17th-century philosophers Spinoza and Leibniz. In November 1676, the foppish courtier Leibniz, "the ultimate insider... an orthodox Lutheran from conservative Germany," journeyed to The Hague to visit the self-sufficient, freethinking Spinoza, "a double exile... an apostate Jew from licentious Holland." A prodigious polymath, Leibniz understood Spinoza's insight that "science was in the process of rendering the God of revelation obsolete; that it had already undermined the special place of the human individual in nature." Spinoza embraced this new world. Seeing the orthodox God as a "prop for theocratic tyranny," he articulated the basic theory for the modern secular state. Leibniz, on the other hand, spent the rest of his life championing God and theocracy like a defense lawyer defending a client he knows is guilty. He elaborated a metaphysics that was, at bottom, a reaction to Spinoza and collapses into Spinozism, as Stewart deftly shows. For Stewart, Leibniz's reaction to Spinoza and modernity set the tone for "the dominant form of modern philosophy"—a category that includes Kant, Hegel, Bergson, Heidegger and "the whole 'postmodern' project... g'r

The difference between Leibniz and Spinoza on happiness, as on all subjects, comes down to their different attitudes toward God. For Spinoza, the intellectual love of God is the highest form of reason. But, as we know, this brainy love is not of the kind that can be returned. Spinoza's Substance is utterly indifferent to humanity's concerns...

The Optimistic Science of Leibniz 

Marc E. Bobro

The philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is chiefly remembered today, when he is remembered at all, for two reasons. First, he invented the calculus — independently, most scholars now agree, of its other inventor Newton. And second, he authored the provocative statement that this world is “the best of all possible worlds.” This claim was famously lampooned in Voltaire’s 1759 satire Candide, in which the title character, “stunned, stupefied, despairing, bleeding, trembling, said to himself: — If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?” Leibniz’s posthumous reputation, already marred by the accusation he had plagiarized Newton’s calculus, never recovered from Voltaire’s mockery. Even in his homeland of Germany, the name Leibniz is perhaps more widely known for a beloved butter cookie named after him than for the man himself.

Yet Leibniz is one of the most impressive figures in the history of modern science, mathematics, and philosophy. It seems impossible that one individual could accomplish all that he did. Leibniz worked unflaggingly at whatever task he set himself to, writing copiously on such diverse subjects as politics, theology, mathematics, and physics, and contributing with singular erudition to many other topics, such as chemistry, medicine, astronomy, geology, paleontology, optics, and philology. He was a historian, a poet, a legal theorist, a diplomat, a cryptographer, and a philosopher who thought it possible to reconcile theology with metaphysics and science. A preeminent man of letters, he was also a cosmopolitan writer of letters, exchanging about fifteen thousand of them with more than a thousand correspondents in French, German, and Latin. Physically, Leibniz may have been nothing special — in fact, he was hunched, bowlegged, and nearsighted — but his far-reaching intellect brought him into contact with scholars of the first rank, as well as statesmen, courtiers, and dignitaries around Europe... (continues)

==

William James on "Leibnitz"

...Truly there is something a little ghastly in the satisfaction with which a pure but unreal system will fill a rationalist mind. Leibnitz was a rationalist mind, with infinitely more interest in facts than most rationalist minds can show. Yet if you wish for superficiality incarnate, you have only to read that charmingly written 'Theodicee' of his, in which he sought to justify the ways of God to man, and to prove that the world we live in is the best of possible worlds. Let me quote a specimen of what I mean.

Among other obstacles to his optimistic philosophy, it falls to Leibnitz to consider the number of the eternally damned. That it is infinitely greater, in our human case, than that of those saved he assumes as a premise from the theologians, and then proceeds to argue in this way. Even then, he says:

"The evil will appear as almost nothing in comparison with the good, if we once consider the real magnitude of the City of God. Coelius Secundus Curio has written a little book, 'De Amplitudine Regni Coelestis,' which was reprinted not long ago. But he failed to compass the extent of the kingdom of the heavens. The ancients had small ideas of the works of God. ... It seemed to them that only our earth had inhabitants, and even the notion of our antipodes gave them pause. The rest of the world for them consisted of some shining globes and a few crystalline spheres. But to-day, whatever be the limits that we may grant or refuse to the Universe we must recognize in it a countless number of globes, as big as ours or bigger, which have just as much right as it has to support rational inhabitants, tho it does not follow that these need all be men. Our earth is only one among the six principal satellites of our sun. As all the fixed stars are suns, one sees how small a place among visible things our earth takes up, since it is only a satellite of one among them. Now all these suns MAY be inhabited by none but happy creatures; and nothing obliges us to believe that the number of damned persons is very great; for a VERY FEW INSTANCES AND SAMPLES SUFFICE FOR THE UTILITY WHICH GOOD DRAWS FROM EVIL. Moreover, since there is no reason to suppose that there are stars everywhere, may there not be a great space beyond the region of the stars? And this immense space, surrounding all this region, ... may be replete with happiness and glory. ... What now becomes of the consideration of our Earth and of its denizens? Does it not dwindle to something incomparably less than a physical point, since our Earth is but a point compared with the distance of the fixed stars. Thus the part of the Universe which we know, being almost lost in nothingness compared with that which is unknown to us, but which we are yet obliged to admit; and all the evils that we know lying in this almost-nothing; it follows that the evils may be almost-nothing in comparison with the goods that the Universe contains."

Leibnitz continues elsewhere: "There is a kind of justice which aims neither at the amendment of the criminal, nor at furnishing an example to others, nor at the reparation of the injury. This justice is founded in pure fitness, which finds a certain satisfaction in the expiation of a wicked deed. The Socinians and Hobbes objected to this punitive justice, which is properly vindictive justice and which God has reserved for himself at many junctures. ... It is always founded in the fitness of things, and satisfies not only the offended party, but all wise lookers-on, even as beautiful music or a fine piece of architecture satisfies a well-constituted mind. It is thus that the torments of the damned continue, even tho they serve no longer to turn anyone away from sin, and that the rewards of the blest continue, even tho they confirm no one in good ways. The damned draw to themselves ever new penalties by their continuing sins, and the blest attract ever fresh joys by their unceasing progress in good. Both facts are founded on the principle of fitness, ... for God has made all things harmonious in perfection as I have already said."

Leibnitz's feeble grasp of reality is too obvious to need comment from me. It is evident that no realistic image of the experience of a damned soul had ever approached the portals of his mind. Nor had it occurred to him that the smaller is the number of 'samples' of the genus 'lost-soul' whom God throws as a sop to the eternal fitness, the more unequitably grounded is the glory of the blest. What he gives us is a cold literary exercise, whose cheerful substance even hell-fire does not warm... Pragmatism

Faith restored

“Baseball always renews my faith in America.”
New Yorker

Why We Can’t Tell the Truth About Aging

A long life is a gift. But will we really be grateful for it?
By Arthur Krystal

...There is, of course, a chance that you may be happier at eighty than you were at twenty or forty, but you’re going to feel much worse... the optimistic narrative of pro-aging writers doesn’t line up with the dark story told by the human body. But maybe that's not the point. “There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life,” Simone de Beauvoir wrote in her expansive 1970 study “The Coming of Age,” “and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning—devotion to individuals, to groups, or to causes—social, political, intellectual, or creative work.” But such meaning is not easily gained. In 1975, Robert Neil Butler, who had previously coined the term “ageism,” published “Why Survive? Being Old in America,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning study of society’s dereliction toward the nation’s aging population. “For many elderly Americans old age is a tragedy, a period of quiet despair, deprivation, desolation and muted rage,” he concluded...

But what do I know? I’m just one person, who at seventy-one doesn’t feel as good as he did at sixty-one, and who is fairly certain that he’s going to feel even worse at eighty-one. I simply know what men and women have always known: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever.” If only the writer had stopped there. Unfortunately, he went on to add, “In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. . . . The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise? This too is meaningless.” No young person could have written that. New Yorker

Wittgenstein's ostentatious retreat

Wittgenstein ‘was never really happy’. Granted, his last words were: ‘Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life,’ but, as Wittgenstein’s biographer Ray Monk points out ,‘wonderful’ is not the same as ‘happy’. – https://t.co/Y9htWspia1 via @aeonmag

— Phil Oliver (@OSOPHER) October 26, 2019

Graham Chapman

aka King Arthur, Brian Cohen... (speaking of eulogies):

A Darwinian-Existentialist eulogy

I went to a funeral today and spent the whole time the ministers were talking thinking about how Epicurus might want to edit their comments. They didn't need that much actually, probably because they were talking about a woman who loved life, with the good and the bad. There was apparently a little amor fati in her. They read a portion of a letter her father had written to her on her high school graduation; she died at 90, so this would be around 1947. In the letter, her father said that she would face good times and bad, success and failure, but that the bad was necessary for her to appreciate the good, to grow, to find meaning in her life, and be happy. Nietzsche guy? 

I started thinking about what I'd like to say to whoever was going to eulogize me so they'd get me right before they took the pulpit. When I came home this article was in my email (providence?), which I think is something I'd like to share with my eulogist. And you all, of course.

I was raised as a Quaker, but around the age of 20 my faith faded. It would be easiest to say that this was because I took up philosophy – my lifelong occupation as a teacher and scholar. This is not true. More accurately, I joke that having had one headmaster in this life, I’ll be damned if I want another in the next. I was convinced back then that, by the age of 70, I would be getting back onside with the Powers That Be. But faith did not then return and, as I approach 80, is nowhere on the horizon. I feel more at peace with myself than ever before. It’s not that I don’t care about the meaning or purpose of life – I am a philosopher! Nor does my sense of peace mean that I am complacent or that I have delusions about my achievements and successes. Rather, I feel that deep contentment that religious people tell us is the gift or reward for proper living.
I come to my present state for two separate reasons. As a student of Charles Darwin, I am totally convinced – God or no God – that we are (as the 19th-century biologist Thomas Henry Huxley used to say) modified monkeys rather than modified mud. Culture is hugely important, but to ignore our biology is just wrong. Second, I am drawn, philosophically, to existentialism. A century after Darwin, Jean-Paul Sartre said that we are condemned to freedom, and I think he is right. Even if God does exist, He or She is irrelevant. The choices are ours.

Sartre denied such a thing as human nature. From this quintessential Frenchman, I take that with a pinch of salt: we are free, within the context of our Darwinian-created human nature. What am I talking about? A lot of philosophers today are uncomfortable even raising the idea of ‘human nature’. They feel that, too quickly, it is used against minorities – gay people, the disabled, and others – to suggest that they are not really human. This is a challenge not a refutation. If a definition of human nature cannot take account of the fact that up to 10 per cent of us have same-sex orientation, then the problem is not with human nature but with the definition.

(Michael Ruse, continues)

‘When people who are fairly fortunate in their material circumstances don’t find sufficient enjoyment to make life valuable to them, this is usually because they care for nobody but themselves.’ J.S. Mill

Quiz Oct 29

AH -183.

1. The unperturbed life has no use for what? 136

2. Epicurus's various physical theories are offered to Pythocles to remind him to "keep clear" of what? 149

3. To say that the time to study philosophy has not yet come is like saying what? 155

4. "Pleasure is the goal of living" means pleasure that consists in what? 160

5. One of Lucretius's better arguments for the soul's mortality starts from what naturalistic assumption? 166

5. Please add yours

DQ

• Will all our theories about the universe always be "only probable"? Is that a good thing?
• How confident must we be in our present scientific grasp of nature, to block superstition and supernaturalism? Has science been successful enough to support a generalized confidence that present mysteries will eventually be explained?
• What's the optimal age to introduce children to philosophy? What's the first philosophy text you can recall encountering? Do you know any children who might benefit from exposure to something like The Philosophers Club?  
• Do you accept Epicurus's analysis of why people believe in hell?
• Are body and soul one entity or two? (Or none of the above?)
•  Please add yours

Dalai Lama's Guide to Happiness

In light of our last presentation, and thinking about how Buddhism is similar to Epicureanism, I thought this video was pertinent. This video of the Dali Lama’s insights shows that Buddhism understands happiness in a very similar way as the Epicurean. They both understand happiness to be a peaceful or tranquil state, not the maximization of sensual pleasure. In addition, the Dali Lama points out the need for communion with others for our happiness, which we know is a vital part of the Epicurean philosophy of happiness. 
The Dali Lama is a moving speaker, and I highly recommend this video. 

Exam 2 Review

Stoicism: A Very Short Introduction

Chap. 1-2

1. What do the Greek letters (Phi Beta Kappa) mean? p.2

2. What does Socrates say about those who do wrong, and how should we deal with their actions? p.5

3. The first complete work of Stoic philosophy wasn't written until when? p.10

4. Why do some scholars question Marcus Aurelius' Stoic credentials? p.18

5. When did Marcus Aurelius' book take its place alongside Epictetus and Seneca? p.21

6. Seneca was popular in what three countries? p.24

Spinoza on Happiness Report:

1. What are the 3 elements of Spinoza's idea of 'the good life'? - development of reason, love for 'God, or Nature,' and freedom

2. How can the 'or' in 'God, or Nature' be thought of? – as an equal sign

Stoicism Chap. 3-4

1. Why did Plato think "a benevolent and providential divinity" created the world? p.27

2. What idea is Plato most strongly associated with? p.28

3. For the Stoics, what has no causal efficacy whatsoever? p.29

4. Which pre-Socratic philosopher identified four basic elements or kinds of stuff in the universe, and which post-Socratic philosopher did he influence? p.39

5. How did the Stoics’ view of the divine’s role in the universe differ from Aristotelean & Platonic traditions? p.41

6. For Stoics, what are the only real good(s) and evil(s)? p.58

On Risk and Happiness Report:

1. Globally, how many people die in car accidents die every year on average? – 3200

2. Who said that the unexamined life is not worth living? – Socrates

3. How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison? – 27

Stoicism Chap. 5-7

1. How do Stoics and Epicureans differ on the value and pursuit of justice? p.65

2. The Stoics held that as humans we are programmed to follow and we must follow if we are to achieve successful versions of ourselves, what? p.66

3. What is the most common Stoic expression of the goal of human life? p.68

4. What is arete? p.69

5. The Stoic accepted which four basic virtues? p.70

6. Why can animals successfully rely on the accuracy of their perceptions, for Epictetus and the Stoics? p.88

7. What two factors do Stoics say cause all our decisions? p.100

8. How is logic treated by the Stoics? p.101

9.  Why has it been natural to focus on Stoicism primarily as a source for moral advice and self-improvement? p.105

10. What did Lawrence Becker say was the problem with ancient Stoicism's relation to nature, and the challenge for modern Stoicism? p.108

11. What was the problem Becker saw with ancient Stoicism? p.108

Why are some places happier than others? Report:

1. What is one of the main reasons that people in the United States are unhappy? –

2. Where does the author go first to start off his happiness trek? – The Netherlands

3. What are some examples of the high level of tolerance in The Netherlands? – Legalized marijuana and prostitution

4. What is the cocktail party question for the people of Switzerland? –

Cicero's "On the Nature of the Gods" Quiz:

1. How did the Pythagoreans affirm their arguments? (V)

2. Velleius says that unlike the Stoics, he won't speak of what? (VIII)

3.Velleius inquires of both the others, "why these powers suddenly appeared as constructors of the world, and why for innumerable ages they were _____?" (IX)

4. "What is to be thought of a philosophy that holds the ignorant old crone’s belief that everything happens by _____?" (XX)

5. How does the blessedness of an epicurean god and the blessedness of an epicurean life differ? (XX)

6. Why did Simonides require so many days to reflect on the nature of god? (XXII)

7. Whose views did Cicero say he found nearer the truth? Whose did he say Velleius found "the truer"? (XL)

Art of Happiness

Intro-39

1. How does Epicurean happiness resemble Buddhism? (VIII)

2. What stereotypes contribute to a flawed understanding of Epicurus, according to the editor? (XIII)

3. What was the genius compromise of ancient Greek philosophy that synthesized the views of Heraclitus and Parmenides? p.5

4. The Epicurean savior today would be who? p.9

5. Under Epicurus’s atomist theory, the collisions and combinations of atoms necessary to produce objects were the result of what? p.17

6. What is 'ataraxia'? p.26

7. Epicureanism was designed as a positive way to escape from the unpleasant social and political environment of the Hellenistic period, and is thus described as a _____. p.27

8. What are the 4 'tests for truth' that make up the 'hard empirical core of Epicureanism'? p.28-31 (A-D)

Happiness and the Experience Machine Report:

1. What is Aristotelian view on how to obtain happiness? –

2. In the Matrix, once the “plugged in” realized their predicament, how did they perceive the world they were in? –

3. In Nozick’s argument, would the person “plugged in” have control over the images and experiences they encounter? –

4. How does the hedonistic theory coincide with the notion of being “plugged in” to an experiment machine? –

AH p.39-76

1. Mechanistic materialists think they can dispense with what, suffering nothing but what? p.39

2. What one function do the gods perform for the Epicureans? p.39

3. For Epicureans, the gods were "paragons of the good life" because they exemplified what Epicurean ideals? p.39-40

4. What was Voltaire's 'malicious remark' about God? p.40

5. To what glaring defect did Epicureans direct their criticism of popular Greek religion? p.45

6. What other aspect of popular religion than that mentioned above troubles many observers? p.51

7. According to Lucretius, what is "the mark of the free mind?" p.52

8. How can we quell irrational "darkling terror," according to Lucretius? p.56

AH p.77-134

1. Epicurus's prose style is worse even than whose? p.78

2. Diogenes Laertius says Epicurus's critics are what? p.82

3. What kinds of pains are worse, for Epicurus, and why? p.90

4. For Epicurus, what forms the most reliable basis for our beliefs? p.103

5. Soul bears the closest resemblance to what? p.103

6. According to Epicureans, _____ and _____ are imagistic. p.116

7. Epicurus was not an enemy of all religion, only what? p.129

8. For Epicurus, hell is what? p.132

Nietzsche Report:

1. What is the ubermensch NOT, and what is a more accurate and accepted translation of it? – A superhero, Overman

2. What was Nietzsche’s goal with providing us with the ubermensch? – To offer meaning in the light of the death of god, and to propose a type of human that dismisses otherworldly notions and focuses on the life directly in front of them.

3. For Nietzsche, what is the practical purpose of philosophy, and what ability does it give us? 

4. What were the two concepts Nietzsche put forth to represent the affirmation of life?  

5. What is the real meaning of Ecce Homo and why was it so important to Nietzsche?

6. What did Nietzsche believe hindered self-growth and why?

Eastern Happiness Report:

1. What are the Three Universal Truths? – Everything is impermanent and changing; the impermanence of everything leads to suffering; there is no eternal unchanging “self” or soul

2. What are the Four Noble Truths? - Suffering exists; suffering has a cause; suffering can end; the way to end suffering is by following the Noble Eightfold Path

3. Name the two Buddhist schools of thought that developed after the Buddha’s death? – Mahayana Tradition; Theravada Tradition

4. What Buddhist school of thought does the Dalai Lama belong to? Mahayana Tradition

1. The unperturbed life has no use for what? 136
2. Epicurus's various physical theories are offered to Pythocles to remind him to "keep clear" of what? 149
3. To say that the time to study philosophy has not yet come is like saying what? 155
4.  "Pleasure is the goal of living" means pleasure that consists in what? 160

5. If a person fights clear evidence of their senses they will never be able to share in what? Pg 140
6. What was one of the chief social aims of Epiureanism? 162
7. "The irreligious man is not the person who destroys the gods of the masses but" who? p.156
8. What mass phobia troubled the Hellenistic period? (163)

Theravada Buddhist visitor next week

A note from Dr. Rebekka King: I have a special guest speaker coming to my class next Thursday (see below, flyer attached). In order to accommodate others who might wish to hear Bhante Chipa speak, I have scheduled the class to take place in HONR 106. Please feel free to join us, spread the word, and encourage your students to attend if they are interested. 

Lecture: "Theravada Monasticism: Theory and Practice" (Chipamong Chowdhury)

Date/Time: Thursday, October 31, 2019 at 1PM

Location: HONR 106

Description:

Chipamong Chowdhury/Bhante Chipa is a Theravada Buddhist monk, mobile teacher, storyteller and an advocate of human dignity. He is the adviser to the spiritual advisor to the Rainforest Foundation US and teaches at the Chautauqua Institution NY. His works primarily focus on contemporary Buddhism, Pali Buddhism and Religious Minorities. His essays and reviews have appeared in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Journal of Contemporary Buddhism, Buddhist Studies Reviews, Fair Observer, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, and Journal of Religion and Culture, among other publications and a co-editor of upcoming book: Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations.

Born into the Marma community in Bangladesh and became a monk at the age of fifteen. He had Buddhist monastic training/education in Myanmar/Burma and Sri Lanka and holds Master degrees in Sanskrit, Religious Studies and South Asian Studies from Naropa University, Colorado and University of Toronto, Canada and a Fellow at the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Defining himself as a global citizen, he travels extensively in North America, Europe and Asia, teaching relational mindfulness, active care and human dignity. 

Nietzsche, walking, happiness, and "the greatest weight"

John Kaag, Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are

Walking is among the most life-affirming of human activities. It is the way we organize space and orient ourselves to the world at large. It is the living proof that repetition—placing one foot in front of the other—can in fact allow a person to make meaningful progress...

Happiness? Why should I strive for happiness? I strive for my work. 

“The greatest weight.-- What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence - even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!"
Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus?... Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?” The Gay Science (aka The Joyful Wisdom)

Are Religious People Happier?

A study done by Pew Research Center, suggests that in the United States the "actively" religious are happier. Yet the article also suggests that there is not enough evidence and data to correlate religion and happiness. Instead, according to the Independent, it could be due to the fact that they are more socially active. This article also suggests that "actively" religious people may be healthier in terms of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs but not in terms of exercise and obesity.

An interesting couple of articles about religion and happiness. Although, it reminds of Haybron's Introduction to Happiness, where he states that most people say they are happy in a survey or study. Not many people are inclined to state they are unhappy.

Eastern Happiness

The terms Eastern Philosophy or Eastern Thought are broad and typically refer to the Philosophical traditions that originated in what is now China, India and Nepal. In my presentation I’m going to focus primarily on Buddhist philosophies.

Not much is known about Siddhārtha Gautama, primarily due to the fact that most information about the Buddha wasn’t recorded in writing until a few hundred years after his death. Most scholars are not very confident about the historical accuracy of the information about his life, but it is accepted that he was born at some point between the 6th and 4th century BCE in what is now Nepal.

Core of Buddhist Philosophy

* I will go more in depth on these in class

Three Universal Truths

Everything is impermanent and changing

The Impermanence of everything leads to suffering

There is not an eternal unchanging “self” or soul

Four Noble Truths

Suffering exists

Suffering has a cause

Suffering can end

The way to end suffering is by following the Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path

Right Seeing/Understanding

Right Thoughts/Intentions

Right Speech

Right Action

Right Work/Livelihood

Right Effort

Right Mindfulness

Right Concentration or “Meditative Absorption”

Two main Buddhist schools of thought developed after the Buddha’s death.


The Mahayana Tradition: Belief that Siddhārtha Gautama was not the first Buddha and wasn't the last. They believe the Buddha to be an ‘enlightened essence’ who delays entry into Nirvana in order to help others. Tibetan Buddhism and Japanese Zen Buddhism both fall under this umbrella.


The Theravada Tradition: Belief that the Buddha was only human but that he is the perfect person to imitate in order to reach enlightenment. (More common in Southeast Asia)





https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48071043





https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/east-and-west-philosophy/





https://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare





Quiz Questions


What are the Three Universal Truths


What are the Four Noble Truths?


Name the two Buddhist schools of thought that developed after the Buddha’s death?


What Buddhist school of thought does the Dalai Lama belong to?


What is the Noble Eightfold Path?





Discussion Questions





What do you believe makes Eastern philosophy attractive to people in the West?


What Greek school of philosophy do you most closely relate Buddhist Philosophy to?


This is a recurring question but do less material possessions lead to happiness or does just less attachment to possessions often lead to being happier?

Slow down

...What if resting, all by itself, is the real act of holiness? What if honoring the gift of our only life in this gorgeous world means taking time every week to slow down? To sleep? To breathe? The world has never needed us more than it needs us now, but we can’t be of much use to it if we remain in a perpetual state of exhaustion and despair.

The next day, I didn’t even try to work. I took a walk around Nashville’s Radnor Lake, the best possible way to celebrate a day of rest. The temperatures here have finally dropped, the rains have finally come, and Middle Tennessee is now serving up one fine October day after another.

At Radnor, the beauty-berries were gleaming in all their purple ripeness, and the asters and the snakeroots were still in bloom. Behind its mother, a fawn was foraging, its springtime spots just beginning to fade. A great blue heron was standing on a downed tree at the edge of the water, preening each damp, curling feather and sorting it into place. A fallen log just off the trail boasted a glorious crop of chicken-of-the-woods, and the seedpods of the redbud trees were ripe and ready to burst. At the lake’s edge, the sound of a lone cricket rose up from the skein of vegetation next to one of the overlooks. Its song was as beautiful and as heart-lifting as any hymn. Margaret Renkl, nyt

It's Freddie the Leaf's time of transition...

Art of Happiness, eastern edition

While we await Marshall's post, here's some Eastern happiness:

The Art of Happiness, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Handbook for Living, By Dalai Lama

A lot of this sounds a lot like Stoicism... g'r

• “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
• "It is felt that a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering, and in fact it is said that bringing about discipline within one's mind is the essence of the Buddha's teaching.”
• “Sometimes when I meet old friends, it reminds me how quickly time passes. And it makes me wonder if we've utilized our time properly or not. Proper utilization of time is so important. While we have this body, and especially this amazing human brain, I think every minute is something precious."
• "I believe that the proper utilization of time is this: if you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them. I think that is the whole basis of my philosophy."
• "For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic good human qualities—warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful—happier.”
• “Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations,you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.”
• “We need to learn how to want what we have NOT to have what we want in order to get steady and stable Happiness”

Six Ideas from Eastern Philosophy
Eastern Philosophy has always had a very similar goal to Western philosophy: that of making us wiser, less agitated, more thoughtful and readier to appreciate our lives. However, the way it has gone about this has been intriguingly different. In the East, Philosophy has taught its lessons via tea drinking ceremonies, walks in bamboo forests, contemplations of rivers and ritualised flower arranging sessions. Here are a few ideas to offer us the distinctive wisdom of a continent and enrich our notions of what philosophy might really be... (continues)

The Stoic Challenge

William Irvine (A Guide to the Good Life) has a new book, The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

Nietzsche: The Prophet of Overcoming Yourself and Becoming Who You Are

Frederick Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) was a German philosopher who, along with Karl Marx and Charles Darwin, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. He was a prophet of “self-overcoming,” the idea of becoming an “ubermensch,” a person who rises above their circumstances and embraces whatever life throws at them. He wanted his work to teach us how to become who we are.   

Nietzsche has become one of the most misconstrued, misinterpreted, and misunderstood philosophers of our time. Improper translations and out-of-context pop culture references have shaped our idea of who Nietzsche was and what his views were. Much of our misunderstanding begins with his famous quote that “God is dead.” This implies that Nietzsche merely doesn’t believe in a god, and that we shouldn’t either; but this wasn’t his intention. Rather, he thought that the values and meaning of our lives that Christianity has provided us with no longer have legitimacy. He believed that these expressions of God and his teachings causes us to place more focus on otherworldly things and ultimately doesn’t give us meaning in this life. The only issue with this is that it leads to nihilism because with “the death of god”, we are left without morals and values. Nietzsche responded to this criticism with his idea of the ubermensch. This has been translated as the superman, beyond-man, hyperman, hyperhuman, and most accurately the overman. The use of the word superman has led us to thoughts of marvel and DC comic book characters, essentially defeating the purpose of Nietzsche trying to get away from “otherworldliness”. Instead of thinking of the man in the red cape with a big “S” on his chest, Nietzsche provides the notion of the overman as a goal or milestone we should be trying to achieve as a species. This overman is someone who has abandoned and overcome otherworldly ideas such as believing in/hoping for an afterlife or basing your values off of tradition and religious instinct. Nietzsche offers the overman as someone who grasps their earthly life with appreciation and acceptance, reaching beyond a victim or reactive mentality, and taking their life into their own hands. 

Nietzsche held that the practical purpose of philosophy was to facilitate the emergence of the great individual (a Higher Man) who dedicates their life to growth and self-overcoming. This pursuit gives us the ability to affirm life in the face of suffering, pain and tragedy, and to achieve “heights of the soul from which tragedy ceases to look tragic.” Nietzsche thought that the affirmation of life was the highest state a human being could attain. He put forth two intertwined concepts to represent affirmation of life; i.e., Amor Fati and The Eternal Recurrence. Amor Fati, or the love of Fate, said Nietzsche, is “my formula for greatness in a human being....” To love fate is to affirm life, but that is difficult in the face of so much suffering in existence. But for one to achieve the “heights of the soul from which tragedy ceases to look tragic,” they must understand that one must experience pain in order to achieve greatness. Suffering and tragedy are necessary for growth in life, and we want to be Yes-men to all of life. Nietzsche provides a psychological test to determine if one is in a state of yes-saying to life. Imagine a demon appeared at your death and said you had to live your life once more, and again eternally after that, with nothing new, with all of its pain and joy, would you gnash your teeth and curse him, or say to him that you had never heard anything so divine?  The yes-sayer, the life-affirmer, as they approach death, doesn’t wish for the peace of non-existence, but that the eternal recurrence was true. 

Ecce Homo is Nietzsche’s philosophy of becoming who you are, or in other terms, finding your happiness in life. His main argument is based around the idea of rejecting falsified religions or gods that hold you back with fear. Ecce Homo means “Behold, the man!,” but not just any man. The context of this phrase is important to what Nietzsche is trying to get his audience to understand. Pontius Pilate screamed this phrase to the crowd when Jesus was on the cross about to be crucified. Nietzsche uses this phrase for two reasons: to ridicule religion, and to announce that his philosophy will one day be as important and profound as the bible. Nietzsche embraced the idea that religion was a torture for people; in fact he believed that having idols was toxic for self-growth in life. He thought spiritual faith in the religious sense was a fake reality that was created by humans that only causes fear. He often called it a “curse,” something that distracts us from our real purpose in this life, which is to find yourself, to be free from the invented world. Once you can make the step to “overthrow idols,” only then will you be able to blossom and truly find who you are. You will be able to explore yourself and the world without being held down by fear-based ideology. This philosophy drove him to the brink of madness because people were not ready to listen to him during his time. His ideas were looked down upon because very few rejected ideals as Nietzsche did. They objected to Nietzsche’s ideas on god. Nietzsche said “I do no refute Ideals, I merely put on gloves before them.” He never accepted any societal, political, or foundational ideals without dissecting them first. This is his main argument for becoming who you are. To reject what you have learned throughout your life and find the truth instead of conforming. His main goal was to illuminate the fact that people should not be held down by fear in falsified gods or idols. He wanted people to find themselves through themselves and not through any God or idols.  

 Quiz Questions: 

1. 1. What is the ubermensch NOT, and what is a more accurate and accepted translation of it? (A superhero, Overman) 

2. 2. What was Nietzsche’s goal with providing us with the ubermensch? (To offer meaning in the light of the death of god, and to propose a type of human that dismisses otherworldly notions and focuses on the life directly in front of them.) 

3. 3. For Nietzsche, what is the practical purpose of philosophy, and what ability does it give us?  

4. 4. What were the two concepts Nietzsche put forth to represent the affirmation of life?   

5. 5. What is the real meaning of Ecce Homo and why was it so important to Nietzsche? 

6. 6. What did Nietzsche believe hindered self-growth and why?
7. 
   

Discussion Questions: 

1. 1. Do you think the overman is an achievable goal for humanity? What else other than religion stands in our way of reaching it? 

2. 2. What is your vision of an overman and what does it entail? 

3. 3. Do you think that it is possible to see and accept suffering as an essential part of life? 

4. 4. Can you look back at bad decisions you made and not regret them? Do you have to be an Overman to do so? 

5. Why did Nietzsche want us to question the Foundation of Religion? 

6. What do we as humans need to get rid of in order to fully grow into our best selves? 

   

What Hollywood Got Wrong (about Nietzsche)

Nietzsche in 12 Minutes

Nietzsche on Amor Fati

Decoding Nietzsche's ECCE HOMO

Sammy Davis, Jr. on becoming who you are: