In pursuit of well being
Week 1:
03-09-20:
Everyone wants to be happy, if you want to reach happiness you need to know how. It is not
just a personal quest, why do you want to be happy? also because of the positive influence
on your environment.
Lectures are not compulsory, assignments are required!.
There will be a reward, if you pass all the assignments, you will receive 1,5 point out of ten.
We are doomed to die, what are you going to do with the in between stuff? Not waste it, use
it! Have a good life.
1. Eudaimonia: favored by the gods. Notice it by people having all sorts of things. e.g
power, wealth.
2. Augustine Heavenly happiness
3. The enlightenment: from heaven to earth
3. The enlightenment: from heaven to earth
The enlightenment c. 1650-1800.
Imannuel Kant: Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (1784)
Motto: “sapere aude! Habe Mut dich deines eigenen Verstande zu bedienen”
Revolutions and transformations in many domains
The american and French revolutions
President Thomas Jefferson: declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights, governments are insituted among men.”
French encyclopedists: “ does not everyone have a a right to happiness?”
Does happiness depend on luck? The only thing we have control about is our mind and our
reasoning.
Positive psychology: the science of happiness
“...psychology is not just the study of pathology,
weakness, and damage; it is also the study of strength
and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is broken;
it is nurturing what is best.”
“A science of positive subjective experience, positive
individual traits, and positive institutions promises to
improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that
arise when life is barren and meaningless”
What is happiness?
,“Pretty well most people are agreed about what to call it: both ordinary people and people of
quality say ‘ happiness ’ and suppose that living well and doing well are the same thing as
being happy. But they are in dispute about what happiness actually is , and ordinary people
do not give the same answer as intellectuals ” ( Aristotle , Nicomachean Ethics , 1095a17-
21).
Lessons from coca Cola:
- Happiness depends on luck
- Happiness is a fleeting moment
- The conditions/determinants for happiness are external
In this course: well-being and Happiness
- Well-being: a complete life that goes well
- Happiness: a state of mind; a mental state
Are they related at all? First one is about philosophy, the other more about psychology and
economics. A good life is the most important thing about wellbeing. Happiness as a mental
state is just about feeling good, not a state of life, no life purpose.
Happiness: (Psychology)
It is a state of mind, but what is it?
- A degree of pleasure
- Life satisfaction: one’s degree of satisfaction with one’s life as a whole/domains.
Give a grade. Cognitive theory: being able to reflect on your life. e.g. job
satisfaction. You can choose domains e.g. satisfied with relationships
- Subjective Well-being (diener e.a.): Life satisfaction + more positive affect than
negative affect. Also about feelings, are you satisfied and positive emotions higher
than the sum of negative emotions? Do you feel more good than bad?
, The three factors of happiness:
1. 50% genetics factors -
2. 10% circumstances
3. 40% intentional activities
Increasing well-being (i.e.g. happiness!)
“If naturally happy people perform particular behaviors, then deliberately choosing to perform
those behaviors may increase well-being in less happy people.”
Positive activity interventions, such as:
- Expressing gratitude
- Performing acts of kindness
- Visualizing best possible selves
Wellbeing:
Well-being: a complete life that goes well. How should I live?
- Pleasure (hedonism)
- Desire Satisfaction
- Eudaimonic theories: fulfilling your nature, who you are as a human
- Objective list theories
Assignment: draw up your list of prudential goods: I.e. of what is good for all humans:
- Freedom
- Health
- Usually pluralistic
- Attitude-independent (people benefit even if they do not want them)
Objective list theories: List of items
- (usually) pluralistic
- Attitude-independent (people benefit even if they do not want them)
Wheel of well-being: wow yourself
- Body
- mind
- spirit
- people
- place
- planet
Activities to increase your level of wellbeing.
Week 1:
03-09-20:
Everyone wants to be happy, if you want to reach happiness you need to know how. It is not
just a personal quest, why do you want to be happy? also because of the positive influence
on your environment.
Lectures are not compulsory, assignments are required!.
There will be a reward, if you pass all the assignments, you will receive 1,5 point out of ten.
We are doomed to die, what are you going to do with the in between stuff? Not waste it, use
it! Have a good life.
1. Eudaimonia: favored by the gods. Notice it by people having all sorts of things. e.g
power, wealth.
2. Augustine Heavenly happiness
3. The enlightenment: from heaven to earth
3. The enlightenment: from heaven to earth
The enlightenment c. 1650-1800.
Imannuel Kant: Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (1784)
Motto: “sapere aude! Habe Mut dich deines eigenen Verstande zu bedienen”
Revolutions and transformations in many domains
The american and French revolutions
President Thomas Jefferson: declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights, governments are insituted among men.”
French encyclopedists: “ does not everyone have a a right to happiness?”
Does happiness depend on luck? The only thing we have control about is our mind and our
reasoning.
Positive psychology: the science of happiness
“...psychology is not just the study of pathology,
weakness, and damage; it is also the study of strength
and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is broken;
it is nurturing what is best.”
“A science of positive subjective experience, positive
individual traits, and positive institutions promises to
improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that
arise when life is barren and meaningless”
What is happiness?
,“Pretty well most people are agreed about what to call it: both ordinary people and people of
quality say ‘ happiness ’ and suppose that living well and doing well are the same thing as
being happy. But they are in dispute about what happiness actually is , and ordinary people
do not give the same answer as intellectuals ” ( Aristotle , Nicomachean Ethics , 1095a17-
21).
Lessons from coca Cola:
- Happiness depends on luck
- Happiness is a fleeting moment
- The conditions/determinants for happiness are external
In this course: well-being and Happiness
- Well-being: a complete life that goes well
- Happiness: a state of mind; a mental state
Are they related at all? First one is about philosophy, the other more about psychology and
economics. A good life is the most important thing about wellbeing. Happiness as a mental
state is just about feeling good, not a state of life, no life purpose.
Happiness: (Psychology)
It is a state of mind, but what is it?
- A degree of pleasure
- Life satisfaction: one’s degree of satisfaction with one’s life as a whole/domains.
Give a grade. Cognitive theory: being able to reflect on your life. e.g. job
satisfaction. You can choose domains e.g. satisfied with relationships
- Subjective Well-being (diener e.a.): Life satisfaction + more positive affect than
negative affect. Also about feelings, are you satisfied and positive emotions higher
than the sum of negative emotions? Do you feel more good than bad?
, The three factors of happiness:
1. 50% genetics factors -
2. 10% circumstances
3. 40% intentional activities
Increasing well-being (i.e.g. happiness!)
“If naturally happy people perform particular behaviors, then deliberately choosing to perform
those behaviors may increase well-being in less happy people.”
Positive activity interventions, such as:
- Expressing gratitude
- Performing acts of kindness
- Visualizing best possible selves
Wellbeing:
Well-being: a complete life that goes well. How should I live?
- Pleasure (hedonism)
- Desire Satisfaction
- Eudaimonic theories: fulfilling your nature, who you are as a human
- Objective list theories
Assignment: draw up your list of prudential goods: I.e. of what is good for all humans:
- Freedom
- Health
- Usually pluralistic
- Attitude-independent (people benefit even if they do not want them)
Objective list theories: List of items
- (usually) pluralistic
- Attitude-independent (people benefit even if they do not want them)
Wheel of well-being: wow yourself
- Body
- mind
- spirit
- people
- place
- planet
Activities to increase your level of wellbeing.
