The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material WorldIf 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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... science comes up with radically new laws ) with no way to explain mental causation and thus to keep consciousness from , in fact , being epiphenomenal.44 In any case , in the most recent iterations of the dialogue between Buddhism and mind ...
... mind actually works , how exactly mental states are realized in the brain ... science to engage in collabora- tive research in the understanding of ... mind and matter ... leaving aside the philosophical question of whether consciousness ...
... mind science ? And if there can be , is that a good thing ? One might answer " Obviously yes " to the possibil- ity question , since when mind scientists tell us how a proper visual system works , or what the right balance of ...
Contents
The Comparative | 37 |
Buddhism and Science | 63 |
Normative Mind Science? Psychology Neuroscience and the Good | 107 |
Copyright | |
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