Ruut Veenhoven
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195373585
- eISBN:
- 9780199893263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373585.003.0026
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Health Psychology
Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. Happiness is not the same as optimal functioning but is a closely related phenomenon. Happiness is a major manifestation of ...
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Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. Happiness is not the same as optimal functioning but is a closely related phenomenon. Happiness is a major manifestation of optimal functioning, since we are hard-wired to feel good when functioning well. Happiness is also a determinant of optimal functioning, since happiness “broadens” our behavioral repertoire and “builds” resources. Consequently, happiness is a major topic in positive psychology. This chapter first deals with the question as to whether greater happiness is possible, and does so by taking stock of the available evidence. It then addresses the question of how happiness can be furthered, and this requires a look ahead.Less
Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. Happiness is not the same as optimal functioning but is a closely related phenomenon. Happiness is a major manifestation of optimal functioning, since we are hard-wired to feel good when functioning well. Happiness is also a determinant of optimal functioning, since happiness “broadens” our behavioral repertoire and “builds” resources. Consequently, happiness is a major topic in positive psychology. This chapter first deals with the question as to whether greater happiness is possible, and does so by taking stock of the available evidence. It then addresses the question of how happiness can be furthered, and this requires a look ahead.
Ben Eggleston, Dale Miller, and David Weinstein (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195381245
- eISBN:
- 9780199869213
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195381245.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The “Art of Life” is John Stuart Mill's name for his account of practical reason. In this volume, eleven leading scholars elucidate this fundamental, but widely neglected, element of Mill's thought. ...
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The “Art of Life” is John Stuart Mill's name for his account of practical reason. In this volume, eleven leading scholars elucidate this fundamental, but widely neglected, element of Mill's thought. Mill divides the Art of Life into three “departments”: “Morality, Prudence or Policy, and Æsthetics.” The first section investigates the relation between the departments of morality and prudence. The chapters ask whether Mill is a rule utilitarian and, if so, whether his practical philosophy must be incoherent. The second section explores the relation between the departments of morality and aesthetics. It discusses issues ranging from supererogation to aesthetic pleasure and humanity's relationship with nature. The chapters in the third section consider the Art of Life's axiological first principle, the principle of utility. This part of the book contends that Mill's own life refutes his claim that the Art of Life has a single axiological first principle. It then maintains that Mill has a dynamic axiology requiring us to continually refine our conception of the good. In the final section, three chapters address what it means to put the Art of Life into practice. Firstly, this part of the book locates an “art of ethics” in On Liberty that is in tension with the Art of Life. It then plumbs the classical roots of Mill's view of the good life. Finally, the book develops Mill's suggestion that we regard our own lives as works of art.Less
The “Art of Life” is John Stuart Mill's name for his account of practical reason. In this volume, eleven leading scholars elucidate this fundamental, but widely neglected, element of Mill's thought. Mill divides the Art of Life into three “departments”: “Morality, Prudence or Policy, and Æsthetics.” The first section investigates the relation between the departments of morality and prudence. The chapters ask whether Mill is a rule utilitarian and, if so, whether his practical philosophy must be incoherent. The second section explores the relation between the departments of morality and aesthetics. It discusses issues ranging from supererogation to aesthetic pleasure and humanity's relationship with nature. The chapters in the third section consider the Art of Life's axiological first principle, the principle of utility. This part of the book contends that Mill's own life refutes his claim that the Art of Life has a single axiological first principle. It then maintains that Mill has a dynamic axiology requiring us to continually refine our conception of the good. In the final section, three chapters address what it means to put the Art of Life into practice. Firstly, this part of the book locates an “art of ethics” in On Liberty that is in tension with the Art of Life. It then plumbs the classical roots of Mill's view of the good life. Finally, the book develops Mill's suggestion that we regard our own lives as works of art.
F. Rosen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198200789
- eISBN:
- 9780191674778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198200789.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of ...
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This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of constitutional government; his use of the greatest happiness principle to resolve problems arising from the exclusion of the Turkish community from citizenship; and his novel and important contribution to constitutional theory in the doctrine of ‘latent negatives’. The chapter also explores the relationship between the ‘Observations’ and Bentham's better-known work on constitutional government, the Constitutional Code. Finally, it discusses the allegation that the constitution of Epidaurus was a mere ‘façade’ created by Greece to impress Europeans as to the capacity of the Greeks to operate a Western, centralised government. This allegation raises not only the question of the point of Bentham's commentary but also the general issue of the relationship of constitutional theory to practice.Less
This chapter considers three major themes of the ‘Observations’: Jeremy Bentham's thesis that the acceptance of popular sovereignty should lead to a transformation of the theory and practice of constitutional government; his use of the greatest happiness principle to resolve problems arising from the exclusion of the Turkish community from citizenship; and his novel and important contribution to constitutional theory in the doctrine of ‘latent negatives’. The chapter also explores the relationship between the ‘Observations’ and Bentham's better-known work on constitutional government, the Constitutional Code. Finally, it discusses the allegation that the constitution of Epidaurus was a mere ‘façade’ created by Greece to impress Europeans as to the capacity of the Greeks to operate a Western, centralised government. This allegation raises not only the question of the point of Bentham's commentary but also the general issue of the relationship of constitutional theory to practice.
Gerald J. Postema
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198793175
- eISBN:
- 9780191835100
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198793175.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
Equality lies at the heart of Bentham’s theory of value, and hence at the core of his utilitarian moral and political theory.The thesis of this chapter is that a proper understanding of the ...
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Equality lies at the heart of Bentham’s theory of value, and hence at the core of his utilitarian moral and political theory.The thesis of this chapter is that a proper understanding of the foundational role of equality in Bentham’s moral and political theory will give us further insight into his distinctive theory of value. Equality was not merely an ad hoc addition to his principle of utility, undermining the coherence of the entire theory, as critics have charged. Rather, Bentham thought of equality as involved in the very meaning of the principle, as Mill put it. This equality-sensitive principle of utility draws on a person-regarding conception of value that recognizes the equal claim that each person’s well-being has on our moral attention. This conception of value that contrasts sharply with the one standardly attributed to classical utilitarians.Less
Equality lies at the heart of Bentham’s theory of value, and hence at the core of his utilitarian moral and political theory.The thesis of this chapter is that a proper understanding of the foundational role of equality in Bentham’s moral and political theory will give us further insight into his distinctive theory of value. Equality was not merely an ad hoc addition to his principle of utility, undermining the coherence of the entire theory, as critics have charged. Rather, Bentham thought of equality as involved in the very meaning of the principle, as Mill put it. This equality-sensitive principle of utility draws on a person-regarding conception of value that recognizes the equal claim that each person’s well-being has on our moral attention. This conception of value that contrasts sharply with the one standardly attributed to classical utilitarians.
Rik Van Nieuwenhove
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780192895295
- eISBN:
- 9780191916090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780192895295.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
After an outline of the views on happiness of Aristotle and some of Aquinas’s immediate predecessors his theology of human fulfilment is outlined. Aquinas rejects both Albert’s view that ...
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After an outline of the views on happiness of Aristotle and some of Aquinas’s immediate predecessors his theology of human fulfilment is outlined. Aquinas rejects both Albert’s view that philosophical contemplation on earth could possibly constitute real happiness and Bonaventure’s more affective notion of prayerful, meditative union with God. Some scholars have pointed to the tension between Aquinas’s accounts of knowing on earth and the vision of God in the afterlife. The former hinges on an Aristotelian empirical stance; the latter appears more illuminist, if not Averroist (in terms of the divine intellect becoming united with the human intellect). This chapter argues that the intuitus simplex (the climax of our intellectual contemplation on earth) resembles, and points towards, the intuitive, non-discursive beatific vision of God. This means that the acme of our mode of knowing on earth, i.e. the moment of intellective insight, has an eschatological dimension. It is one more instance of grace perfecting nature.Less
After an outline of the views on happiness of Aristotle and some of Aquinas’s immediate predecessors his theology of human fulfilment is outlined. Aquinas rejects both Albert’s view that philosophical contemplation on earth could possibly constitute real happiness and Bonaventure’s more affective notion of prayerful, meditative union with God. Some scholars have pointed to the tension between Aquinas’s accounts of knowing on earth and the vision of God in the afterlife. The former hinges on an Aristotelian empirical stance; the latter appears more illuminist, if not Averroist (in terms of the divine intellect becoming united with the human intellect). This chapter argues that the intuitus simplex (the climax of our intellectual contemplation on earth) resembles, and points towards, the intuitive, non-discursive beatific vision of God. This means that the acme of our mode of knowing on earth, i.e. the moment of intellective insight, has an eschatological dimension. It is one more instance of grace perfecting nature.
Michał Klincewicz
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190652951
- eISBN:
- 9780190652982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190652951.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
A combination of algorithms, based on philosophical moral theories and analogical reasoning from standard cases, is a promising strategy for engineering software that can engage in moral reasoning. ...
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A combination of algorithms, based on philosophical moral theories and analogical reasoning from standard cases, is a promising strategy for engineering software that can engage in moral reasoning. This chapter considers how such an architecture could be built using contemporary engineering techniques, such as knowledge engineering and symbolic reasoning systems. However, consideration of the philosophical literature on ethical theories generates engineering challenges that have to be overcome to make a computer moral reasoner viable. These difficulties include the context sensitivity of the system and temporal limitations on search—problems specific to artificial intelligence—but also difficulties that are direct consequences of particular philosophical theories. Cooperation between engineers and philosophers may be the best way to deal with those difficulties.Less
A combination of algorithms, based on philosophical moral theories and analogical reasoning from standard cases, is a promising strategy for engineering software that can engage in moral reasoning. This chapter considers how such an architecture could be built using contemporary engineering techniques, such as knowledge engineering and symbolic reasoning systems. However, consideration of the philosophical literature on ethical theories generates engineering challenges that have to be overcome to make a computer moral reasoner viable. These difficulties include the context sensitivity of the system and temporal limitations on search—problems specific to artificial intelligence—but also difficulties that are direct consequences of particular philosophical theories. Cooperation between engineers and philosophers may be the best way to deal with those difficulties.
