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 in a Material World Owen Flanagan. to Güven Güzeldere and David Wong , dear friends and spiritually advanced natural philosophers Contents Acknowledgments Introduction xi ix 1 Meaningful and Enchanted Lives.
... 5 Neuroscience , Happiness , and Positive Illusions 149 6 Spirituality Naturalized ? " A Strong Cat without Claws " Notes 221 265 Index 285 Bibliography 183 Acknowledgments The occasion for this book was an invitation to Contents.
... spirituality in many meetings in India and America over the last decade. I am grateful to them all. Alan Wallace and Rob Hogendoorn stand out as especially helpful critics. Finally, as always, there are public lectures. I owe gratitude ...
... spiritual fuel in the spooky sense. The unification of the sciences that study persons5 is made possible by the insight that all these sciences are all engaged in studying various aspects of the thinking and being of a certain very ...
... spiritual traditions such as Bud- dhism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism. The latter disciplines, inquiries, sciences, and spiritual practices, insofar (and this is not their only aim) as they seek to understand the nature, causes, and ...
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 |