Philosophy and happiness / edited by Lisa Bortolotti.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bortolotti, Lisa

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Happiness--Philosophy.

Happiness.

Physical Description:

xv, 258 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Summary:

Philosophy and Happiness addresses the need to situate any meaningful discourse about happiness in a wider context of human interests, capacities, and circumstances. How is happiness manifested and expressed? Can there be any happiness if no worthy life projects are pursued? How is happiness affected by relationships, illness, or cultural variants? Can it be reduced to preference satisfaction? Is it a temporary feeling or a persistent way of being? Is reflection conducive to happiness? Is mortality necessary for it? These are the questions people ask themselves when they stop and think about how they feel, how their lives are going, and how they would be going if different choices had been made or different values had been prioritized. These are the questions that contributors to this volume begin to answer, adopting different methodologies, including the analysis of widespread intuitions about imaginary and real-life scenarios, and reflection on the interpretation of the relevant empirical evidence emerging from psychology and economics.

Contents:

Part I Happiness and the Meaningful Life

1 Happiness and Meaningfulness: Some Key Differences / Thaddeus Metz 3

2 Happiness, Temporality, Meaning / John Cottingham 21

3 Tragic Joyfulness / Pedro Alexis Tabensky 37

4 Shape and the Meaningfulness of Life / Laurence James 54

5 Immortal Happiness / Muireann Quigley, John Harris 68

6 `I am well, apart from the fact that I have cancer': Explaining Well-being within Illness / Havi Carel 82

7 Suffering in Happy Lives / Mike W. Martin 100

Part II Happiness and the Mind

8 Reflections on Positive Psychology / Elaine Duncan, Ilaria Grazzani-Gavazzi, Usha Kiran Subba 119

9 Face Value. Perception and Knowledge of Others' Happiness / Edoardo Zamuner 130

10 The Politics of Happiness: Subjective vs. Economic Measures as Measures of Social Well-Being / Erik Angner 149

11 Happiness and Preference-Satisfaction / Iain Law 167

12 The Politics of the Self: Stability, Normativity and the Lives We can Live with Living / James Lenman 183

13 Happiness and Life Choices: Sartre on Desire, Deliberation and Action / Jordi Fernandez 200

14 The Reflective Life: Wisdom and Happiness for Real People / Valerie Tiberius 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-253) and index.

ISBN:

9780230224292

0230224296

OCLC:

298778344