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
... evolve in certain animal lineages ? What does living as a self - aware social mammal mean or add up to ? How does living a conscious embodied life matter , add up to anything - anything at all ? I have come to think that how to make ...
... evolution- ary biology , respectively . The question of meaning , if it has a good answer , seems to require more resources than these sciences . In fact , many will say that the mind sciences and evolutionary biology are part of the ...
... evolution by natural selection provides prospects for philo- sophical unification of all the sciences that pertain to human being. Because we are animals, biochemistry, genetics, and neuroscience allow us to see heretofore unseen ...
... evolution , a sub - species of science conceived generally , interacts with some of the main locations to which we ... evolutionary psychology ) a source of disharmony ? If so , why ? Are there ways to make the relations among what I ...
... evolution. If certain Christians stopped claiming that the Genesis story (which of the two?) is literally true, part of the prob- lem would disappear. The Dalai Lama is pretty comfortable with evolution. Many spiritual folk, the Earth ...
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 |