Happiness Classic and Contemporary Readings in Philosophy

by Cahn, Steven M.; Vitrano, Christine

• ISBN13: 9780195321401
• ISBN10: 0195321405
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Happiness has long been a focus of attention for philosophers as well as psychologists. This volume, the only collection devoted to the subject from the standpoint of philosophy, offers twenty-seven classic and contemporary readings exploring the nature of happiness. Part I, a survey of the ways happiness has been treated throughout the history of ethics, includes writings by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Butler, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Part II explores the work of contemporary ethical theorists, including Julia Annas, John Kekes, Richard Kraut, Robert Nozick, and Richard Taylor. The book also includes an introduction by psychologist Daniel Nettle, headnotes for each selection, and essays by the editors. Ideal for ethics courses, Happiness: Classic and Contemporary Readings can also be used in courses in introductory philosophy and positive psychology.

Table of Contents

Historical sources	p. 1
The Republic (selections)	p. 3
The Nicomachean ethics (selections)	p. 19
Letter to Menoeceus	p. 34
Leading doctrines	p. 37
On the happy life (selections)	p. 41
The happy life (selections)	p. 51
Summa Contra gentiles (selections)	p. 60
Leviathan (selections)	p. 68
Upon the love of our neighbour	p. 77
The sceptic	p. 86
An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation (selections)	p. 99
Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals (selections)	p. 103
Critique of pure reason (selections)	p. 113
On the variety and suffering of life (selections)	p. 114
Utilitarianism (selections)	p. 121
Happiness and duty	p. 144
On the uses and disadvantages of history for life (selections)	p. 152
Forlornness	p. 157
Contemporary theories	p. 161
Pleasure and happiness	p. 163
Why hedonism is fake	p. 173
Attitudinal and episodic happiness	p. 179
Happiness and time	p. 193
Two conceptions of happiness	p. 201
Virtue ethics	p. 222
The experience machine	p. 236
Happiness as achievement	p. 238
Virtue and eudaimonism	p. 245
Happiness and immorality	p. 261
Happiness and morality	p. 267
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