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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... tion'' (a phrase he took from Gilbert Ryle). Geertz's idea of thick description is connected to a wise observation made especially among anthropologists about their practice: Before one is able to say anything interesting about some ...
... tion.1o Philosophers aside , the claim is that the shape of perfectly ordinary lives is affected typically by commerce with the latter six spaces . My six spaces of meaning , like Sellars's two images , are inherently social . They are ...
... tion of the problem . Some philosophers , as well as some literary and art theorists , speak of the conflict between art and ( conventional ) morality . But in almost every case I can think of we need to descend from the super- ordinate ...
... tion of art or music , or of the creative process itself . But although such inquiry takes artistic or musical production as something to be explained , it does not take the production itself as expressing something that can be stated ...
... tion of consciousness and about mental causation , about human agency ? Does deeper scientific understanding of consciousness and mental causa- tion help or hinder our efforts to make sense of things , to find meaning , and to flourish ...
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 |