What is happiness? Is it even worth pursuing? Is a happy life different from a meaningful one?
In this episode I try to clear up some confusion surrounding the word “happiness”. We typically think of happiness as being synonymous with positive emotion—joy, bliss, excitement, all of those kinds of emotions—but Nietzsche hates this. He tends to define true happiness as involving a strong sense of meaning or purpose and he tends to harshly criticize anyone who ignores this component of happiness. And indeed, the science does seem to align with him on this point. I compare Nietzsche’s criticisms of this purely hedonic happiness with the founder of modern positive psychology, Martin Seligman’s PERMA theory of human well-being in addition to my usual exploration of what these issues have to do with everyday people like you and me.
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What does Friedrick Nietzsche's famous declaration that "God is dead" actually mean? Is his claim vindicated by science? Why should we even care? This episode explores these topics and others such as where Jordan Peterson and the New Atheists go wrong in interpreting Nietzsche, David Foster Wallace's claim that we all worship something whether we're aware of it or not, and my own cast of characters grappling with real-life problems related to these questions.
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Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on Twitter @Zaher_Tarek
What is philosophy? What is science? What should the relationship between the two be? This episode explores these topics as well as others such as the appreciation of life in light of death, the capability we all have to philosophize, and a rough framework for how we might lead more engaged, happier lives using both science and, inevitably, philosophy.
Some Sources/Further Reading:
Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on Twitter @Zaher_Tarek
