Table of contents for Issue 44 - June/August 2024 in New Philosopher

“There is only one inborn erroneous notion… that we exist in order to be happy.” – Arthur Schopenhauer It’s not uncommon for people to think that flourishing is a destination, a place we can reach where our lives are in order and we (and the ones we love) are happy and balanced and at peace with our place in the world. For most of us, it’s slightly more complicated than that; rather than a destination, flourishing is more like a shadow we can’t quite make out, let alone grasp. As we strive for this utopian state, life goes on in all its messy glory: bills, chores, work, errands, failures, financial worries, disappointment in ourselves and in others. Not to mention global concerns such as war and climate change. How are…

At 2:00 pm on August 5, 2010, a gold and copper mine collapsed in the Atacama Desert, and 33 miners were instantly trapped 700 metres under the earth’s surface. In 35°C heat and suffocating humidity, the miners lacked sufficient food or water, and after days of peering down adjacent tunnels and ventilation shafts for a way out, they came to the terrifying conclusion that there was no escape. On this day, 33 miners were forced, by a rare act of fate, to become superior to their former selves. While the rest of the population, up upon the Earth’s surface, continued to plod about, going about their day at a slow pace, apathetic and half-awake, the miners, in contrast, were jolted into a new way of being. In The Energies of…

A lot of the critiques of Utilitarianism, the doctrine that we should try to create a world that maximises happiness, point out the bizarre and inhuman actions that we would seemingly have to accept if we accepted the theory. For example, we can imagine that if we wanted to maximise happiness, it would be morally justified, and perhaps even required, to murder a healthy person and harvest their organs in order to save five people. After all, five lives are more valuable than one, so even if it doesn’t seem like justice, we should kill one person to save the five. However, as the comic points out, you don’t even need to get five people involved. Utilitarianism usually sounds great when people first hear about it, and the theory really…

NO ROOM FOR A CURE “Then it is that the height of unhappiness is reached, when men are not only attracted, but even pleased, by shameful things, and when there is no longer any room for a cure, now that those things which once were vices have become habits.” GOOD AND BAD “Death is neither a good nor a bad thing, for that alone which is something can be a good or a bad thing: but that which is nothing, and reduces all things to nothing, does not hand us over to either fortune, because good and bad require some material to work upon. Fortune cannot take ahold of that which Nature has let go, nor can a man be unhappy if he is nothing.” NONE BUT HIMSELF “That man,…

Ask most people what ‘the good life’ involves, and they will likely rattle off a list of goods. Maybe those goods are simple pleasures like food, laughter, sex, or money; maybe they’re more refined goods like art, music, friendship, parenthood, or a fulfilling career. Philosophers, you may be surprised to learn, are people too, and often put together similar lists as constituents of the good life. Even Aristotle, who believed that the key to eudaimonia, or ‘flourishing’, is the cultivation and exercise of virtue, still thought certain goods were either prerequisites for happiness (e.g. health) or were goods that came to the virtuous (fame, wealth, friendship). If we’re comparing how happy or flourishing various people’s lives are, it seems natural to look for certain goods, and compare who has more…

Existence is suffering. We don’t have to look far to see the truth of this dictum: there’s the news, of course, which is more often than not a litany of tragedies and atrocities. But even if we only look back on our own lives, suffering – both large and small – is ever-present. Partly, this is a function of how we remember. As Nietzsche said, “If something is to stay in the memory it must be burned in: only that which never ceases to hurt stays in the memory.” Of course, this formulation leaves open the possibility that the preponderance of suffering is only a trick of the memory. Perhaps suffering is only an accidental, contingent feature of existence, over-magnified by our minds? Much philosophical thinking has been directed at…

Michael Foley was educated at St Columb’s College and Queens University, Belfast, where he took degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science. He was a teacher for 23 years at the University of Westminster, lecturing in Information Technology. His first poems were published in 1969 in The Honest Ulsterman, a magazine he went on to edit with Frank Ormsby, and his first prose in a satirical column in the magazine Fortnight, which also serialised his first novel, The Passion of Jamesie Coyle. After retirement from teaching he wrote his first nonfiction book, The Age of Absurdity, followed by Embracing the Ordinary, Life Lessons from Bergson, and Isn’t this Fun: Investigating the Serious Business of Enjoying Ourselves. Zan Boag: When determining what is important in living a flourishing life, in what way…

In his famous work The Politics, Aristotle has an equally infamous text in which he criticises what is usually translated as ‘commerce’, ‘retail trade’, or ‘business’. His attack has puzzled philosophers ever since: was Aristotle a crypto-communist, anti-business, or antediluvian in his grasp of economics? His worries seem to boil down to this: money, in its essence, is a medium of exchange – a ticket enabling the purchase of whatever a person wants and can get with it. The problem is that a person’s wants can be unlimited. When the money ticket is used to simplify the exchange of basic necessities – being portable, countable, easily divided, a common unit of accounting and value (unlike camels and bananas) – then it is, for Aristotle, in the service of the ‘good…

noun: 1. to develop quickly and become successful or common;2. to grow well; to be healthy and happy. Origin: Middle English: from Old French floriss-, lengthened stem of florir, based on Latin florere, from flos, flor- ‘a flower’. The noun senses ‘ornamental curve’ and ‘florid expression’ come from an obsolete sense of the verb, ‘adorn’ (originally with flowers). Source: Oxford English Dictionary…

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Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Hobbs contributes regularly to radio and TV programs and other media, including 25 appearances on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg; she lectures and gives talks around the world. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the United States Air Force Training Academy in Colorado. Michael Foley Michael Foley is London Times bestselling author of The Age of Absurdity and Embracing the Ordinary. His first poems were published in 1969 in The Honest Ulsterman, a magazine he went on to edit with Frank Ormsby, and his first prose in a satirical column in the magazine Fortnight, which also serialised his…

For much of my early adult life, I viewed flourishing as a state of being that necessitated certain ingredients, much like a plant requires good soil, water, and a healthy dose of sunlight to bloom. The graceful rose, for instance, needs to be planted in rich, moist, and well-drained soil, and requires at least six hours of sunlight a day. Place the delicate rose in a garden bed overshadowed by a Eucalyptus tree and the roses won’t bloom. Competition for light, and water, is one thing, but some studies have shown that some Eucalyptus species can send allelopathic chemicals into the soil, suppressing understorey vegetation. Flourishing, I thought, required the perfect location – one that was best suited to my needs and dreams. Should the place, therefore, be hot or…

Instructions: Please respond to the following questions on a scale from 0 to 10: These items have been used around the world to assess various domains of flourishing, or human well-being: Happiness and Life Satisfaction (Items 1-2), Mental and Physical Health (3-4), Meaning and Purpose (5-6), Character and Virtue (7-8), and Close Social Relationships (9-10). The background and motivation for these items and the flourishing domains can be found in: VanderWeele, T.J. (2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 31:8148-8156.…

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”– Nicolas Chamfort “Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.”George Santayana “While we all long for ease and security in our lives, overcoming challenge of one kind or another is at the heart of flourishing.”Maureen Gaffney “The only reality is now, today. What are you waiting for to be happy? ... Happiness is not exuberant or noisy, like pleasure or joy; it’s silent, tranquil, and gentle; it’s a feeling of satisfaction inside that begins with self-love.”Isabel Allende “To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”Robert M. Pirsig “Thus we never live, but we hope to live; and always disposing ourselves…

You studied graphic design and photography in London – what is it about 3D and motion design that initially got you interested?What really pulled me into 3D was the idea of being able to recreate worlds that my camera couldn’t capture. I would typically approach a visual task in 3D with a photographer’s eye but the fact that I could make anything I could imagine and light and texture it in any way I wanted seemed magical to me. Of course the learning curve for 3D was long, but once the principles started to settle in there really wasn’t any way of going back. The animations from your ‘Flourishing’ series are based around a mathematical formula. How did you come up with the idea for this interesting process – using…

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placidand self-contained,I stand and look at them long and long.They do not sweat and whine about their condition,They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the maniaof owning things,Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.…

Angie Hobbs is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, and in ethics and political theory from classical thought to the present; and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero. Her most recent publication for a general audience is Plato’s Republic: a Ladybird Expert Book. She contributes regularly to radio and TV programs and other media, including 25 appearances on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg. Hobbs lectures and gives talks around the world: she has spoken at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the United States Air Force Training Academy in Colorado. She has been the guest on Desert Island…

What is your demon? My doubts that my work hasn’t made any difference and that the one career I will likely ever have, will end up producing little of lasting value. Which thinker has had the greatest influence on your life? C.S. Lewis. Reading him in high school had a profound impact on my religious thinking. It was also what got me interested in philosophy. What do you doubt most? Whatever position it is that a philosopher today claims to have established or proven or shown to be true with a great deal of confidence. If you could change one thing about the world, what would that be? It might sound cliché, but replacing the hate in the world with genuine love, a love that is deeply concerned with the…

Humans are social creatures, and, for the most part, we flourish from working cooperatively and forming partnerships. A kind neighbour can be a godsend when planning a vacation, acting as pet feeder, gardener, and home surveillance all in one. Life is made easier, and more is possible, when we work together. ‘Symbiosis’ is a term used in biology, referring to close associations between two or more species. Symbiotic relationships can be beneficial for both parties (mutualism), beneficial for one party while the other is neither helped nor harmed (commensalism), or harmful in that one party benefits at the expense of another (parasitism). In human relationships, clearly mutualism – meaning everyone flourishes – is the optimal arrangement. When I flourish, you flourish – and we both flourish more than had we…

newphilosopher.com is an online portal for exploring philosophical ideas on ways to live a more fulfilling life. Read the articles, join in discussions, and watch free online documentaries. newphilosopher.com Wealth of philosophers Diogenes of Sinope, the original Cynic, watched a mouse that seemed to be content with very little, just a scrap of grain, and modelled his own abstemious behaviour accordingly. The courage to be If Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard were alive today, and had his own social media account, he probably wouldn’t get many likes. Kierkegaard never got married or had children... newphilosopher.com/shop/ Online store Visit the online store for previous issues of New Philosopher and Womankind magazine, subscriptions, and gift ideas. New Philosopher China The Chinese version joins the Arabic, Korean, and English language versions of New Philosopher…

When two stringed instruments are in close proximity to each other, they can communicate. If you pluck the strings on one, the others will vibrate, even without physical contact. Musicians call it “sympathetic resonance”, and some instruments are intentionally built with “sympathetic strings”. These are not meant to be played directly but will vibrate when you pluck their companions, thus achieving a deeper sound. Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno likened human hearts to strings, saying that they are meant to vibrate when someone else’s does. Sympathetic resonance explains why some of my college students start to weep when I get emotional. This reaction is often involuntary, sometimes even unwanted, but as the greeting card says, “friends don’t let friends cry alone”. Except when they do. I have sat with more…

Some things are best pursued directly. Others get more elusive the more you seek them. John Stuart Mill in Autobiography described his own dark depression following a mental breakdown in early adulthood that he labelled “a crisis in my mental history”. He had lost his desire to achieve anything, had realised that he didn’t really care whether the aims of utilitarianism were fulfilled, and that nothing gave him any pleasure anymore. He had been brought up as the next genius, the one who would carry utilitarian ideas forward, and had exceeded expectations, yet he’d lost all his motivation. He kept working, but only mechanically, without passion, just going through the motions. He wasn’t flourishing – far from it – despite his intellectual achievements and prowess. Nothing had meaning for him.…

72% 72% of U.S. teens say they often or sometimes feel peaceful when they don’t have their smartphone; 44% say it makes them feel anxious. Roughly three-quarters of teens say it often or sometimes makes them feel happy (74%) when they don’t have their smartphone. 47% About half (47%) of teens who report being online almost constantly say they at least sometimes argue with their parent about the amount of time they spend on their phone, compared with those who are online less often (30%). Roughly three-quarters of parents (76%) say managing how much time their teen spends on the phone is an important or a top priority. Half of parents say they have looked through their teen’s phone. 38% 38% of teens say they spend too much time on…

The images of the rental property on the internet looked sublime, a three-story villa in a medieval Spanish town, complete with lighted cave pool and rustic charm. But when our family of six idled our oversized car down the miniature street, we were stopped no less than three times; first by two police officers who waved us down, peering with flashlights into the car and demanding identification papers, and next by two locals on push bikes – “ten cuidado,” (be careful). “Don’t let your children out of sight.” The travel writer Paul Theroux wrote, “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” When we travel, we are groundless; and, unlike our ordinary life back home, there are no signposts telling us where to go and what to do. We have to somehow…

The Activist Helen Keller1880-1968 Visible goal Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, – if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing. The Philosopher Aristotle384-322 BCE Noble actions The man who does…

The Earth Transformed Peter Frankopan A deeper interest Engagement with new parts of the world spurred some to take a deeper interest in what could be learned from geography, from history and from science. Writing in the middle of the eighteenth century, the philosopher David Hume considered what the authors Horace, Juvenal and Diodorus Siculus had said about the weather and climate in Rome as well as elsewhere in the empire. It would have been preferable, he notes, “had the ancients known the use of thermometers”. Nevertheless, comparing the accounts with the present day, it is reasonable to conclude that “the winters are now much more temperate at Rome than formerly”. The Art of Happiness Matthieu Ricard Thinking about happiness Is happiness a skill that, once acquired, endures through the…