Schedule

• Type-1 vs Type-2 Happiness (H2, Satisfaction)

  • RQ (stands for "Reading Questions"): happiness2rq

  • Bonus: Philosophy Talk (radio show) on happiness. This discussion also covers subjective vs. objective happiness, which we'll get to later.

  • Measuring Happiness

    • Print and bring (but do not complete)

      • PANAS.pdf (Positive And Negative Affect Scale),

      • page 1 of SWLS.pdf (Satisfaction With Life Scale), and the

      • Oxford Happiness Questionnaire.

    • In class, we might also take a look at the DRM - Day Reconstruction Method (you should not print this).

    • Bonus: Martin Seligman has been (and still is) collecting happiness data from hundreds of thousands of people at the site Authentic Happiness.

    • Bonus: A Drive folder with a variety of different scales

    • Bonus: Guide to Experience Sampling apps. Also, apps for tracking everything about you: Quantified Self.

  • Pain We Want, Pleasure We Avoid (More on how our brains can perceive events)

    • Journal #1 is due. You can do well on journals if you take your time and follow the instructions

    • Bring Nettle. No new reading. We will talk about

• Flow

  • • Today we'll consider a very weird kind of experience called flow (or: absorption), both what it is and whether or not it has an important role in well-being.

    • The reading is not from Nettle; print off and bring to class FindingFlow. Answer the reading questions. (Remember: Type; use a 4-digit number.)

    • Bonus: NYTimes article on focus and happiness.

• • SKIP - Haidt on the Divided Brain

  • Read Ch. 1 of Haidt and answer the rq. Bring Haidt to class.

  • Don't look at the words! Video with words appearing at the bottom. This shows how hard it is to override the urge to look. However ...

  • ... this video - How many times does white team pass the ball? - illustrates that we can maintain our focus, perhaps too well.

  • Here is the Stroop Test. What color are the words in the right hand column?

• Introduction to Project #1

  • • Many scientists (especially psychologists) are specifically concerned with increasing happiness, including Sonya Lyubomirsky, who thinks that up to 40% of one's satisfaction depends on what she calls "intentional activity" and only 10% on life circumstances (the other 50% is genetics). So, one's best bet for increasing happiness is to work on intentional activity. In class, we'll take a diagnostic test (pdf version) to find which activity (out of four) might fit you best, and pick an activity to practice until mid-term, at which point you'll write a report and give a presentation.

    • Print & Bring: Project1 and Lyubomirsky12Strategies (2 pages).

    • Here are the instructions for the Project1 write-up, which might be useful for you to know as you practice your chosen activity and record your data.

    • Bonus: listen to this 12-min. interview with Lyubomirsky (mp3) on "acts of kindness", "counting your blessings" and other happiness-increasing activities)

    • Bonus: Lyubomirsky's book The How Of Happiness (at Amazon) | Her papers

    • Bonus: How To Be Happy - summary article of things you can practice, based on the scientific literature

• • Meaning (& Goodness): Strange Lives (1)

• • Are there limits to what people can (or should) find meaning in? Read (and print AND BRING) kazez16-20.pdf. Answer 1strangelivesMrq

  • Related movie: Trainspotting - classic (fictional) movie about someone who chooses heroin.

  • Bonus: Sam Harris' TED talk against moral relativism.

Project #1

• • • Today we will go over the instructions for the report and presentation, and maybe set up groups to work on the report and presentation.

    • Add yourself (and your group members) to the table at the bottom of this document.

• Meaning vs. H-1: The Value Of Unhappiness

  • • Read (and print & bring) the Newsweek article 'Happiness: Enough Already' AND an article about a recent book called Against Happiness (wilsonmelancholia.pdf). Answer these RQ.

    • Bonus: Nietzsche on Hardship (TV program)

    • Bonus: An interview with Stephen Hayes about how 'Happiness isn't Normal' from Salon.com (hayeshappiness.pdf)

    • Bonus: A piece from the NYTimes Magazine, Depression's Upside

    • Bonus: Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, Bright-Sided

• • Meaning (& Goodness): Parenthood

    • In this class, we start looking at meaningfulness (M), as an important part of overall satisfaction, and specifically at parenthood as a source of M (and G).

    • Print and bring baumeisterparenthood, an excellent summary of lots and lots of research into the effect of parenting on happiness. But is Baumeister talking about H-1 or H-2? And how is H related to M? Answer the parenthood RQ.

    • Bonus: Kids are "all joy and no fun". TED talk | Fresh Air and All Things Considered interviews | The book (at Amazon) | Parenting Teenagers | Modern Childhood

    • Bonus: NYTimesmarriagechildren.pdf

    • Bonus: Atlantic article on Happiness vs. Meaning (and Goodness?)

    • Bonus: 2013-10 research from the Pew Center: Parents Find Time With Kids More Rewarding Than Paid Work And More Exhausting | BBC video on the Pew research

  • Bonus: Here is a survey of recent research into parenting and happiness/meaningfulness.

  • Bonus: LATimes report on 2014 research on the impact of parenting

  • Bonus: Spousal relationships with newborns.

• (Meaning &) Goodness: Strange Lives (2)

  • • People leading strange lives have meaning in their lives. But they might not be leading good lives. We'll continue to think about goodness, with special reference to the cases in the reading from Kazez – St. Simeon, the severely disabled, and also addicts and child molesters, and perhaps non-human animals. Are there limits to what people can (or should) find meaning in? Read (and print AND BRING) kazezstrange1.pdf. Answer goodnessrq.

    • Bonus (audio): A fairly compelling radio interview with an ex-addict on NPR.

    • Bonus (movie at right): Sound and Fury - a terrific documentary about the deaf community and a device called a 'cochlear implant', which, if inserted while a child is still young, will allow him/her to hear.

• Journal #2

  • • Journal #2 is due.

    • No new reading. We'll talk more about M - Pete's Couch, the mental life of dogs, and so on.

• • (Meaning &) Autonomy

    • Read (and print & bring) kazez.pdf; answer the RQ. See the rq for a summary of the pages leading up to p. 63.

  • Bonus: Video (at right) on Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre (Kool Aid): 909 people died. Were they killed or did they commit suicide?

    • Bonus: Video: Four Amish teens go to the UK for rumspringa. wikipedia on rumspringa. Radio interview with a psychotherapist who works with Amish teens.

    • Bonus: Intervention is a show about people with addictions, whose families try to intervene.

    • Related movies: The Karate Kid (wax on, wax off); The Empire Strikes Back where Luke trains under Yoda - Try not! Do! There is no try.

• • • Bonus: Is the monk (Thich Quang Duc) in the picture at right experiencing negative H-1?

• Realness

  • • Imagine a Matrix-style machine could give you the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction and a sense of meaning, AND it would all seem perfectly real. Would you climb into the machine? Print out a description of Nozick's 'experience machine' (in nozick.pdf) and bring it to class. Answer the RQ.

    • Related movies: The Truman Show, The Matrix, Dark City, 13th Floor, etc. The best 'virtual reality' movie, in my opinion, is eXistenZ (click here for the IMDb entry). The library has this movie on DVD.

• Discussion Paper #1

  • • Discussion paper #1 is due. Click the link for topics and some instructions. (See the syllabus for some more instructions.)

    • In case it is helpful, here is a typical peer-review sheet.

    • Key To Paper Comments

    • Jim Pryor's handout on writing philosophy papers. (A comprehensive set of advice but most of it is applicable to short papers.)

    • Here is a Prezi on how to write a philosophy paper, (for papers a bit longer than 2 pages - but most of the advice is applicable).

• • Adaptation, Treadmills, Set Point

• • • How can we tell which individuals have higher and which have lower life satisfaction? One answer is that personality is a large factor. Read Nettle Ch. 4 and answer the rq nettle4.

• • 2014 data on why extraverts are happier

  • Presentation Prep (& Paper Writing)

    • We'll watch video of people giving presentations and talk about them

    • Add your self/group to the bottom of Project1 report & presentation

  • Paper #2

  • Topics & Instructions

    • In class we'll watch 10 minutes of an episode of House; print and bring but do not complete these RQ.

  • Project #1 Presentations

    • Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (the project involves taking the questionnaire a second time)

    • Lyubomirsky12Strategies (including the 4 you can pick from)

    • Project1 (basic instructions)

    • Project1 report & presentation instructions - add your/your group's name(s), e-mail(s), section(s) to the bottom of this one

  • Some slideshows from previous terms

  • Reports are due when you give your presentation no later than Wednesday – put your 4-digit number on the report

Monday (section 11 a.m.)

1. Beth Cl (on kindness)

2. Andre (on gratitude)

3. Allie (on forgiveness)

4. Connor (on kindness)

Monday (section 12 noon)

1. Katie Roberts (on forgiveness)

2. Marybeth (on kindness)

3. Brandon & Ashley (on kindness)

Tuesday (both sections, BLOC Aud)

1. Beth Cr (11), Marize (11), Sam (12), Chelsea (12) (on kindness)

2. Alvin (on savoring)

3. Josh (on forgiveness)

4. Jasmine & Jasmine (on forgiveness)

Wednesday (section 11 a.m.)

1. Sydney, Chloe, Taylor, Samantha (on gratitude)

2. Kaci & Vanessa (on gratitude)

3. Chris (on forgiveness)

4. Shana, Maia, Jasmine, Tripp (on kindness)

Wednesday (section 12 noon)

1. Emillee (11)

2. Gabby & Jay (on forgiveness)

3. Becca (on gratitude)

4. Anna & Drew (on forgiveness)

Wanting vs. Liking

• • In ch. 5 (and ch. 6) Nettle argues for his main thesis: that humans are designed not to be very happy. In this chapter (5), he discusses how the wanting and liking systems of the brain are two separate systems. Answer these RQ.

  • Video bonus: Has wanting become more emphasized in modern times? (Part 3 of Century of the Self).

• Paper Feedback

  • • Today we'll talk (more) about paper writing (and check in to see how the project is going so far).

    • Key to comments (on the papers)

• • Happiness vs. Survival

    • RQ: nothappiness

    • Bonus video link: Short (23 min) program Schopenhauer on Love.

• Compassion

  • • The reading is a short article by Keltner (keltnercompassion) - print this off and bring to class. Answer the RQ. Tip: Keltner presents a lot of evidence and you must concisely summarize all of the points he makes that are relevant to the questions. You won't get full credit if you only give one of his points when there is more than one.

• • Bonus: TED talk on compassion. See also the class sessions on Buddhism, below.

• Other People: Empathy

• • 3 articles by/about DeWaal's work on empathy in chimps and infant humans

    • Bonus Material: a famous chinesesaying.pdf

    • A NYTimes article about research on empathy.

• • Writing Feedback

    • Paper #2 and the report for Project #1 will be returned. We will be talking about paper-writing.

Stoicism (2)

• • • Print and bring the Handbook by another Roman Stoic called Epictetus. Read at least the following sections – 1-5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 26, 28, 34, 42, 45, 48, 52 – and answer the RQ

Skip - Stoicism

• Buddhism (3) - Acting Day

  • • Read about the "Eightfold Path" (in smithbuddhism2 - print & bring) and also concepts such as nirvana, karma, and no-self and follow these specific instructions.

    • Bonus: Criticism of some basic ideas of Buddhism = HorganBuddhismCrit.pdf

Competition amongst females

• • • • Advising

        • Here is a list of the philosophy offerings in Winter Session and Spring term.

        • Here is a flyer for PHIL 209 – Methods Of Logic

• General RQ

  • Tues 4th and Wed. 5th - Fishbowl Groups

    • Tuesday Questions (which everyone should print & bring, along with your materials on Stoicism)

    • Tuesday, Group 1: Denzel, Aliesia, Samantha, Bre, Kat (adfelton, andaley, sasanders, bamuir, kmditta)

    • Tuesday: Group 2: Jae, Eric, Jacqui, Kelly, Kevannah (jhlister, eawalker, jmsmith, kmjones1, kgcampbell)

    • Wednesday Questions (which everyone should print & bring, along with your materials on Buddhism)

    • Wednesday Group 1: Taylor, Steven, Armando, Marlan, Dylyn (tbbellamy, sofranklin, aemiller, mehare, djkotteles)

    • Wednesday Group 2: Courtney, Krystyn, Rachel, Brianna, Alex (clbogan, kaking, ralee, bmthomas1, amtatum)

  • For Tues. 27th - Presentation Practice Session

    • Work on project 2. Consult the instructions and ideas below

Pdf of Nettle Chapter 1.

• • SKIP - Socrates (1)

    • We'll end with Socrates, as portrayed by his follower, Plato. Socrates is up there with the Buddha and the Christ in terms of influencing future generations. He is the "patron saint" of rationality. He values knowledge and the search for knowledge, above all. In Socrates' Defense (also called Apology), Plato portrays the trial of Socrates, who is appearing on charges of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods of the city. The date is 399 BCE.

    • Download and print a copy of Socrates' Defense from here - just click on "one-click download" in the top left.) For this class, read up to 24b (according to the margin numbers) and complete a set of RQ. specific

    • Bonus video link: Socrates On Self-Confidence (video) from the same series as the videos on Seneca (the Stoic) On Anger and Epicurus On Happiness.

• • SKIP - Socrates (2)

    • Read Defense up to 35d. For HW, write 1-2 pages on one of the following: Does Socrates need any knowledge of his own in order to refute Meletos? What is Socrates' attitude as he cross-examines Meletos - hostile or inviting (or something else)? Is Socrates apologetic (as we use the word)? Is Socrates even defending himself? What is the goal of life, according to Socrates? Gather quotes from the text which relates to one of these questions. Make a list of quotations (with marginal reference numbers/letter) and say what each one suggests as an answer to the question you're working on.

  • SKIP - Socrates (3)

    • Finish reading Socrates' Defense. Write 1-2 pages on this question: Socrates says that, for humans, a life without examination is not worth living. Do you agree? Why/why not?

  • SKIP - Socrates (4)

    • Read Plato's dialogue Crito (available at the SSRN) and complete a set of GeneralRQ, (or continue gathering evidence for your interpretation of Socrates.) In this dialogue, Socrates is in prison prior to being executed, and his friend Crito comes to visit him - with an escape plan. Topics for an optional paper and optional journal are below

  • SKIP - Aristotle (1) - Living Well

  • Excerpt from NicEth

  • RQ

  • SKIP - Aristotle (2) - The Mean

  • RQ

  • Other Courses With Dr. Woods

    • PHIL 332 Ancient (Western) Philosophy (General Studies 'W' Credit)

    • TTh 2:30-4:10

    • An introduction to ancient Western philosophy, covering the historical period from (roughly) 600 BCE to 200 CE. The figures and thoughts of the ancient Greeks and Romans continue to be incredibly influential on Western culture. Among the possible topics: the division of body from mind and of emotions from reason; the individuality of souls; the quest for knowledge and the value of that quest; the birth of science and a commitment to naturalism and to essences. Among the possible figures: the early scientific philosophers or "pre-Socratics" who broke with mythological thinking; the enigmatic figure of Socrates who was executed for teaching young people to question their elders and challenging democracy; the provocative dialogues of Plato, who refuses to tell us what he thinks; the genius of Aristotle, who established the sciences of logic, linguistics, rhetoric, biology, chemistry; and the Stoic and Epicurean schools which became dominant after the death of Alexander the Great and conceived of philosophy as a way to find peace of mind. The student should end the term with an understanding of the emergence of scientific and philosophical thought, knowledge of the types of questions being asked and different theories that were advanced on these matters, and be able to see the influence of one thinker on another and on history.

      • PHIL 209 Methods Of Logic

    • MW 2:30-4:10

    • This course has three parts. The first covers everyday reasoning with "if ... then ..." propositions and "or" propositions. It then (in part 2) moves to scientific reasoning, involving sampling and experimentation. Finally, it looks at arguments and explanations as presented in everyday English (i.e. reasoning that can be quite messy), such as are found in newspaper articles and editorials. This is an essential course for pre-law students or anyone intending to take an exam for further study (GRE, MCAT, LSAT) and for anyone who wants to learn to think straight.