René Magritte. The Lost Jockey.  

 

 

 

 

 

Philosophy 3375 The Meaning of Life Spring 2009  Kazez

                     

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jkazez@smu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HANDOUTS, READINGS, LINKS

(updated throughout semester)

1/21  Syllabus    revised syllabus (3/4)    about Tolstoy   minutes: class issues

 

1/28  about the desert saints   Handout 1 (Aristotle)   minutes: Aristotle discussion

 

2/4  about Admiral Stockdale   Stockdale on Epictetus (pdf)   picture of Jean-Dominique Bauby   Handout 2 (Stoicism)   Aristotle on music education (just for fun)

 

2/11  Exam 1 (you need this!), minutes: experience machine discussion

 

2/18 Explore www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu.  Please take:

  • "authentic happiness inventory questionnaire"

  • "gratitude test"

  • "optimism questionnaire" 

Familiarity with these tests will be relevant to tonight's class. Then follow the link on that site to:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/

 

Explore the BBC site to find out what makes people happy, and what doesn't, according to research in positive psychology today.

 

The pursuit of happiness (powerpoint)

 

2/25 Class cancelled

 

3/4  revised syllabus  exam 1 grading

 

3/18  Johnson, Unspeakable Conversations (req reading)

        explore http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html (section III)

        about Johnson, about Singer

        Example for Singer-Johnson discussion

 

 

3/25  Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism req reading)  about Harriet Jacobs, Exam 2 questions and handout 3 (you need this!), Sartre Minutes (helpful for exam)

 

4/1   about Leopold and Loeb

 

4/8   about Paul Farmer, paper assignment, minutes of moral saints discussion, exam 2 points

 

4/15  Links some will need for papers:

Singer on infanticide (read section called "Justifying Infanticide and Involuntary Euthanasia.") 

"How good do we have to be?" (short article of mine in Philosophy Now)

4/22   Nozick, Death (req reading), handout 4 (Nozick), minutes of Nozick discussion

 

4/29  Is your life meaningful? (chart), final exam questions (you need this!)

 

5/6  Final exam, same time same place

 

 

 

Picture:  Rene Magritte, The Lost Jockey (1948)