Can happiness be measured?
Can we measure wellbeing scientifically? Economist Richard Layard, supporter of the new national happiness index, believes we can; philosopher Julian Baggini is having none of it.
ReadTag: Ethics
Blackwell’s Book Podcast
“On this week’s programme we have two guests: Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, the eponymous shrink and sage, whose unique brand of self-help with a distinctly cerebral flavour is a regular feature in the FT Weekend magazine. Antonia Macaro is the shrink, an existential therapist and philosophical counsellor with many years’ experience. And Julian Baggini is the sage, the founding editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine and the author of numerous successful works of popular philosophy, some of which we have previously featured on this programme. Together they aim to bring the insights of philosophy, psychology and therapy to bear on some of the big questions we all grapple with at times in our daily lives.”
ReadHope against hope
The suggestion is that we don’t need hope at all. All we need is a purpose for our action, a purpose that need not be conceived of as a hope. When people plan to, try to, aim to, work to, they are taking steps to achieve a desired goal. But when someone says they merely hope to, nine times out of ten what that tells you is that they have not yet set about doing what needs to be done to realise that hope.
ReadShould we make room for rumination?
I wonder if there is a place for a contemplation of the negative that has no concern with turning it into a positive, which is how rumination is sometimes understood. Life consists of night as well as day, so don’t we need to learn how to live in the dark as well as how to switch on the light?
ReadIs modesty still a virtue?
Writers these days need to promote themselves as brands. A holiday job selling ice cream must be presented on a CV as evidence that the applicant is a highly motivated self-starter with excellent communication skills. This is now the way of the world. In a culture where everyone has to put themselves forward, the virtues of holding oneself back are easily lost. But retiring virtues need not be put into retirement. What we ought to do is distinguish them and unpick their benefits and drawbacks.
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