Philosophy As Frustration : Happiness Found and Feigned From Greek Antiquity to the Present

In 'Philosophy as Frustration: Happiness Found and Feigned from Greek Antiquity to Present' Bruce Silver analyzes important views of happiness from Greek antiquity into the present. He argues that in many cases philosophers and positive psychologists do a poor job of defending the views of happiness they promote. Too often the philosophical approaches to what constitutes happiness are at odds with themselves and with possibilities for living happily. In some cases readers discover that the phrase "happy human being" is oxymoronic and that the most a person can expect is a life that is a measure of calm Philosophy as Frustration: Happiness Found and Feigned from Greek Antiquity to the Present 4 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 Section I: Classical Happiness 26 1 Socrates: Happiness, Wisdom and Fruitful Doubt 28 2 Plato on Pleasure and Happiness: The Problem of Clocks and Calendars 54 3 Aristotle: Happiness, Virtue and Contemplation 96 Section II: Darkness and Seeing the Light 126 4 Boethius: Philosophy as Therapy 128 5 Thomas Aquinas: Happy but not Human 152 Section III: Early Modern Paths to Happiness 178 6 Spinoza: On Becoming Naturally Happy 180 7 Leibniz: Hyperkinetic Happiness 218 8 John Locke: An Experimentalist’s Approach to Happiness 248 Section IV: Happiness Postponed and Happiness at Hand 274 9 Immanuel Kant: A Will to be Moral and a Wish to be Hapy 276 10 John Stuart Mill: The Refined and Happy Hedonist 306 Section V: Happiness as a Greater or Lesser Good 338 11 Recent Philosophies of Happiness: A Sampler 340 12 Positive Psychologists and a Suspect Science of Happiness 360 Index 374 In Philosophy as Frustration: Happiness Found and Feigned from Greek Antiquity to Present Bruce Silver argues that traditional philosophical views of happiness, as well as recent psychological theories of happiness, are at odds with themselves and with important accounts of a truly happy life. By Bruce Silver. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.