The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material WorldA noted philosopher proposes a naturalistic (rather than supernaturalistic) way to solve the "really hard problem": how to live in a meaningful way—how to live a life that really matters—even as a finite material being living in a material world. If consciousness is "the hard problem" in mind science—explaining how the amazing private world of consciousness emerges from neuronal activity—then "the really hard problem," writes Owen Flanagan in this provocative book, is explaining how meaning is possible in the material world. How can we make sense of the magic and mystery of life naturalistically, without an appeal to the supernatural? How do we say truthful and enchanting things about being human if we accept the fact that we are finite material beings living in a material world, or, in Flanagan's description, short-lived pieces of organized cells and tissue? Flanagan's answer is both naturalistic and enchanting. We all wish to live in a meaningful way, to live a life that really matters, to flourish, to achieve eudaimonia—to be a "happy spirit." Flanagan calls his "empirical-normative" inquiry into the nature, causes, and conditions of human flourishing eudaimonics. Eudaimonics, systematic philosophical investigation that is continuous with science, is the naturalist's response to those who say that science has robbed the world of the meaning that fantastical, wishful stories once provided. Flanagan draws on philosophy, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and psychology, as well as on transformative mindfulness and self-cultivation practices that come from such nontheistic spiritual traditions as Buddhism, Confucianism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, in his quest. He gathers from these disciplines knowledge that will help us understand the nature, causes, and constituents of well-being and advance human flourishing. Eudaimonics can help us find out how to make a difference, how to contribute to the accumulation of good effects—how to live a meaningful life. |
From inside the book
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... meaning and sense of things, including ourselves.11 Each space contains information about possibilities for self-description as well as norms for self-direction. The Space of MeaningEarly 21st century I call the sextet {art, science ...
... century ago . The Goodman set that constituted the Space of Meaning for ... Meaning Early 21st century . Most contemporary people interact with all six ... Meaning Early 21st century . These are fellow humans who live in a condition of ...
... MeaningEarly 21st century. I will return several times to this question of our responsibilities to those who live in conditions of material or spiritual poverty. Meaning Pluralism and Meaningful Relations One additional reason for ...
... meaning by participation in var- ious subspaces within the spaces of meaning that constitute the Space of Meaning Early 21st century . Did people always conceive of life artfully ? I don't know . It doesn't matter . We now do . This is ...
... this might make one press this concern : What does the Goodman set that constitutes the Space of Meaning Early 21st century have to do with actually living an ordi- nary life as most people live such lives ? The answer is this : In ...
Contents
1 | |
The Comparative Consensus | 37 |
Buddhism and Science | 63 |
4 Normative Mind Science? Psychology Neuroscience and the Good Life | 107 |
5 Neuroscience Happiness and Positive Illusions | 149 |
6 Spirituality Naturalized? A Strong Cat without Claws | 183 |
Notes | 221 |
Bibliography | 265 |
Index | 285 |