#823 Owen Flanagan: Against Happiness
RECORDED ON JULY 24th 2023.
Dr. Owen Flanagan is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Duke University. His work is in philosophy of mind and psychiatry, ethics, moral psychology, and cross-cultural philosophy. He is co-author of Against Happiness.
This is our second interview. You can watch the first one, on The Geography of Morals, here: https://youtu.be/1jEyXTmzdzM
In this episode, we focus on Against Happiness. We talk about the “happiness agenda”, and what is promoted by advocates of happiness as the ultimate goal. We discuss if this agenda is hedonist and utilitarian. We talk about some philosophical issues, and criticisms of positive psychology. We discuss what “happiness” means, and issues with how it is measured. We talk about different hierarchies of values across cultures. We discuss problems with averaging subjective satisfaction scores and comparing countries, and how norms can influence how people answer surveys. We talk about some of the politics of this, and question if promoting happiness is a political virtue, if disadvantaged people want it, and the example of feminism in China. Finally, we discuss what cross-cultural work teaches us about norms and individual differences.
Time Links:
Intro
The “happiness agenda”
Do people who say that happiness is the ultimate goal really think that themselves?
Is the “happiness agenda” hedonist?
Is it utilitarian?
Philosophy and positive psychology
What “happiness” means, and issues with how we measure it
Different hierarchies of values
Averaging subjective satisfaction scores and comparing countries
Answering surveys, and the influence of norms
Is promoting happiness a political virtue? Is that really what disadvantaged people want?
The example of feminism in China
What cross-cultural work teaches us about norms and individual differences
Follow Dr. Flanagan’s work!
Follow Dr. Flanagan’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3uZ4xHX
PhilPeople profile: https://bit.ly/3hC6nvk
Against Happiness: https://bit.ly/44Hbw96