Chris and Christian discuss happiness. First, what is happiness? The philosophical literature contains three main accounts: happiness as a life filled with pleasure, happiness as a kind of positive mood, and happiness as the judgment that your life as a whole is going well. Second, what distinguishes happiness from some seemingly related concepts, such as wellbeing (see: Episode 2) and the meaning of life (see: Episode 3)? Third, what is the value of happiness? Why should we pursue it? Can happiness ever be bad?

Works consulted:

-Davis, Wayne (1981). “Pleasure and Happiness.” Philosophical Studies 39 (3):305 - 317.

-Haybron, Dan, "Happiness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .

-Nozick, Robert (1989). “Happiness.” In Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations. Simon & Schuster.

Music by Cosimo Fogg: • Jazzaddict's Intro – Cosimo Fogg (201)

Chris and Christian discuss the meaning of life. Can life be meaningful even if God doesn’t exist, or even if there’s no afterlife? What does it even mean to lead a meaningful life? Is it just about being emotionally engaged with your life projects? Or is it about pursuing objectively valuable goals such as beauty, justice, or knowledge? And what, concretely, should we do when we find our lives meaningless?

Works consulted:

Susan Wolf, “Meaningfulness: A Third Dimension of the Good Life.”

Thaddeus Metz, “The Meaning of Life” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Robert Nozick, “Philosophy and the Meaning of Life.”

Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd.”

Music by Cosimo Fogg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4yspCQRaM

Chris and Christian discuss the nature of well-being, also known as human flourishing. Is well-being the same as happiness? What constitutes well-being? In other words, what kinds of things can make life good for you? And what makes all those things good for you? The three most popular accounts of well-being are considered: hedonism, which says that the good life is the most pleasurable one; desire-fulfillment theories, which say that the good life is all about satisfying your desires; and perfectionism, which says that the good life is one where you develop your fundamental human nature and potential.

Works consulted:

Articles from Guy Fletcher (editor), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being

Roger Crisp, “Well-Being” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Music by Cosimo Fogg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4yspCQRaM