Thursday, November 9, 2017

Quizzes Nov 14, 16

PW 11-12, 15-16, 18-19

1. The first philosophic treatise on walking was called _____.

2. What's the principle of Thoreau's new economics?

3. To walk is to experience _____.

4. Love of morning is a measure of _____.

5. What was Thoreau's reaction to "the other world"?

6. What's in the heart of a healthy man in winter, according to Thoreau, and how according to Gros does this affect walking?

7. Who said Socrates wasn't a great walker? Why not?

8. What does peripatein mean?

9. What sedentary "classic opposition" did Cynics reject? What are Truth and Nature, for the Cynic?

10. How did the Cynic achieve cosmopolitanism?

11. Why is happiness fragile?

12. What concerns did Kant share with Nietzsche?

13. When may a stroll become an "aesthetic moment"?

DQ

Thoreau "wanted his lessons to alternate with long walks." What might be the benefit of this instructional approach?
Do you apply Thoreau's economic principle, when contemplating purchases? Does a credit economy tempt us not to?
COMMENT: "You can be replaced at work, but not for walking." (90)
What would you have to give up or renounce, in order for "one day's work a week" to be sufficient? Would it be worth it, to you?
Are you austere, frugal, both, neither, or...? 92
"What he saw, he made his own." 93 How? Can you do that?
What's your reaction to Thoreau's reaction to "the other world"?
Do you hibernate in winter, or are you energized by the cold? What practical/motivational tips can you share with those reluctant to get out in winter?
What do you think of the idea that nature has nothing to teach a philosopher?
Were Cynics really the only authentic Greek walkers, particularly if their main purpose in walking was provocation (131)? Are dogs the best walkers in the animal kingdom, despite or maybe because they rarely travel in a straight line?
Is serenity better than happiness? Is it best to live without expectations? 146
Do you have any "immutable rituals" or "mastered inevitabilities"? 158 Do they make you happy?
[your DQs please]

PW 22-25

1. Walking is, paradoxically, a renunciation or resignation to being earthbound that gives us _____.

2. When he ditched his rucksack at the foot of a mountain Gros felt a sensation of _____.

3. How does walking help you "hold yourself to account"?

4. Monks suggested walking as a remedy for _____.

5. Who was first to conceive of the walking as a "poetic act"?

6. What practice in Tibetan spirituality is key to walking without fatigue?

What are your thoughts about people who spend their lives behind desks and in front of screens who "haven't seen anything of the day"? 185
Do you ever "kill time"? What would Thoreau say? 190
Are there any personal "vows" or resolutions you think walking helps you, or could help you, keep? 195
Have you participated in any walks or marches for social justice or any other cause larger than yourself?
"Walking drains anger away" 202 - Have you found this to be true, personally?
Do you agree that walking may sometimes be monotonous, but never boring? 208
"My thoughts sleep if I sit still" - yours too?

4 comments:

Madison JayNovember 11, 2017 at 2:28 PM
Possible DQ's:
1. Do you practice frugality by Thoreau's definition? If so, how? Do you agree with his definition? p.92
2.Thoreau believed that writing should not be the commentary on other's writings. As a philosopher, what do you think of this statement? p. 95
3.The quote 'How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live' really stuck out to me and I have come up with multiple ways to interpret this in regards to my own life and writings. What do you think about it? p.96
4.What do you think of Gros's thoughts on the differentiation of Joy and Happiness? Do you think either of these definitions he provides is close to the meaning of Eudemonia? Why or why not?
5. Do you see the maintenance of health as a way to prolong life, as Kant did, or to enjoy life? Why? P.155
6.Do you think the monotony of walking is a luxury or a nuisance? Why?
ReplyDelete
Replies
UnknownNovember 15, 2017 at 3:45 PM
- Do you apply Thoreau's economic principle, when contemplating purchases? Does a credit economy tempt us not to?

Most of the time, yes. Life is too precious, and I feel like I work a lot for some of the potential purchases that are out there. It's often times not worth the cost. The credit culture does tend to escalate this for most people I think. I usually pay in cash for what I need though. If I don't have the money for it, I don't buy it. I don't own any sort of credit card to my own name, and hope to get away with never doing so if at all possible.

- Are you austere, frugal, both, neither, or...? 92

Frugal, I think. Is anyone really austere these days? I think not, sadly. But I tend to be frugal in nature - using only what I need, recycling, consuming less, that sort of thing. I'm not perfect at it, but hope to get better with time and as my situation allows.

- What's your reaction to Thoreau's reaction to "the other world"?

Perfection. Seriously, no one could say it better - because we really don't know what's in store for us after death. No one does. It could be a huge variety of outcomes, but we will never know for sure which it will be. It's what makes death so beautiful and so final.

- What are your thoughts about people who spend their lives behind desks and in front of screens who "haven't seen anything of the day"? 185

I wonder if they're happy. I wonder what they really dream about and if they're in a good place. I wonder what they really want out of life, and why they aren't getting that. Maybe they are getting what they want. Who really knows?

- Do you ever "kill time"? What would Thoreau say? 190

Who doesn't these days? I wish I didn't as much though, and do try to limit it within my means. Thoreau, if he was alive in this day and age, would probably be appalled by society and how it's transformed. So many people leading lives of 'quiet desperation' it seems. Maybe he'd lead a rebellion. I'd join!

- "Walking drains anger away" 202 - Have you found this to be true, personally?

I think this holds relatively true. It's not something I'd hold as an absolute, but I think it tends to help, as one tends to be angry at a situation or an idea. Walking gets one physically away from the situation and stirs the mind and lets it wander to other ideas and thoughts.

ReplyDelete
Replies
UnknownNovember 30, 2017 at 2:58 PM
Extra questions for chapter 11-12, 15-16, 18-19
1) Where was David Thoreau born?
2) When was he born?
3) What school did he attend?
4) What did he do after graduating?
5) At what year did he reverse the order of his given names?
6) What was his name after he reverse his given names?
7) What happened to Thoreau at 1838?
8) Where did he worked afterwards?
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Happiness returns to the MTSU campus (on ground!) August 24 2021, TTh 2:40, Peck Hall 206.

TEXTS:

Also recommended:

Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
The Art of Happiness, by Epicurus
How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well
Stoicism: A Very Short Introduction
The Conquest of Happiness, by Bertrand Russell
William James, tba

"Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment." George Santayana

“If one can’t be happy, one must be amused, don’t you agree?” Nancy Mitford

But, beware "amusing ourselves to death"...

Previous announcements posted at the bottom of this page.

Natural happiness

“It is a scientific fact that the occasional contemplation of natural scenes of an impressive character, particularly if this contemplation occurs in connection with relief from ordinary cares, change of air and change of habits, is favorable to the health and vigor of men and especially to the health and vigor of their intellect beyond any other conditions which can be offered them, that it not only gives pleasure for the time being but increases the subsequent capacity for happiness and the means of securing happiness.” Frederick Law Olmsted

Happy Quotes

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” ― Aristotle

They are fools who live without enjoyment of life
- Democritus

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy — to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work." -Soren Kierkegaard

"To pessimism and despair, the healthy-minded respond: 'stuff and nonsense, get out into the open air!'" -William James

"If we were to ask the question: 'What is human life's chief concern?' one of the answers we should receive would be: 'It is happiness.' How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure." William James

	Albert Einstein (@SaidByEinstein)
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy? #Einstein

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert Camus

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” -Dr. Seuss (Or Vin Scully, or...)

"Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment." George Santayana

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha

Happiness: A History

“Like Rousseau, Hegel appreciated quite early on that in modern commercial societies, individuals' desires and needs were generated by the desires and needs of others. Implanted by advertising, dictated by fashion, and determined by style, individual desire was always socially determined, shaped by the particular contexts in which we live. [..] Hence the need for greater comfort does not exactly arise within you directly; it is suggested to you by those who hope to make a profit from its creation.”

“No one could work harder to be happy," Tocqueville observes of Americans, marveling at the ceaseless, restless energy they expand in search of a better life. Rushing from one thing tho the next, an American will travel hundreds of miles in a day. He will build a house in which to pass his old age and then sell it before the roof is on. He will continually change paths "for fear of missing the shortest cut leading to happiness.”

“What if virtue, work, all our striving and sweat was simply not enough to make the animal man a happy creature?”

Darrin M. McMahon

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." Aristotle

"There is no other light, no other shade; this very sun, this moon, these very stars, this very order and disposition of things, is the same your ancestors enjoyed, and that shall also entertain your posterity... The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little. Make use of time while it is present with you." Montaigne

"Formula for our happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal." Nietzsche

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” Camus

"A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so." Christopher Hitchens

The Meaning of Life

"The solid meaning of life is always the same eternal thing,— the marriage, namely, of some unhabitual ideal, however special, with some fidelity, courage, and endurance; with some man's or woman 's pains.—And, whatever or wherever life may be, there will always be the chance for that marriage to take place." William James

“The chances of finding out what’s really going on in the universe are so remote, the only thing to do is hang the sense of it and keep yourself occupied.” Douglas Adams

"Well, it's nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations." M. Python

I can't stand it

Though the ULTIMATE state of the universe may be its extinction, there is nothing in physics to interfere with the hypothesis that the PENULTIMATE state might be a happy and virtuous consciousness...

In short, the last expiring pulsation of the universe's life might be, "I am so happy and perfect that I can stand it no longer."

William James

There are unhappy men who think the salvation of the world impossible. Theirs is the doctrine known as pessimism.

Optimism in turn would be the doctrine that thinks the world's salvation inevitable.

Midway between the two there stands what may be called the doctrine of meliorism, tho it has hitherto figured less as a doctrine than as an attitude in human affairs. Optimism has always been the regnant DOCTRINE in european philosophy. Pessimism was only recently introduced by Schopenhauer and counts few systematic defenders as yet. Meliorism treats salvation as neither inevitable nor impossible. It treats it as a possibility, which becomes more and more of a probability the more numerous the actual conditions of salvation become.It is clear that pragmatism must incline towards meliorism...(continues)

whanging & skimming

Remember when old December's darkness is everywhere about

you, that the world is really in every minutest point as full of life as in the most joyous morning you ever lived through; that the sun is whanging down, and the waves dancing, and the gulls skimming down at the mouth of the Amazon, for instance, as freshly as in the first morning of creation; and the hour is just as fit as any hour that ever was for a new gospel of cheer to be preached. I am sure that one can, by merely thinking of these matters of fact, limit the power of one's evil moods over one's way of looking at the cosmos.

Jefferson the Stoic-Epicurean

"Before he attained domestic happiness he had probably worked out his enduring philosophy of life; it was marked by cheerfulness not gloom, and he afterwards described it as Epicurean, though he hastened to say that the term was much misunderstood. He came to believe that happiness was the end of life, but, as has been said, he was engaged by the "peculiar conjunction of duty with happiness"; and his working philosophy was a sort of blend of Epicureanism and Stoicism, in which the goal of happiness was attained by self-discipline."

Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian

The Philosophy of Happiness

Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Quizzes Nov 14, 16

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Five Books (@five_books)
The eternal question: how to be happier? Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, passed us some tips buff.ly/2txxMnv