Month: January 2011
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To be happy is to be resilient
Some people think that happiness means feeling good. For them, happiness is a temporary state of mind, a mood, a “good vibration.” Others believe that happiness means contentment or fulfillment. So, they’d say that, over the long haul, they’ve lived well (or that they’ve wasted their lives). I think there’s another view of happiness that’s…
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On being a skeptic for a day
Pyrrhonian skeptics were quite unique among their ancient Greek and Roman contemporaries. Unlike other schools that had gained popularity at the time (most notably, the Epicurean and Stoical schools), this group of skeptics didn’t advocate any programs nor did they lobby for any policy nor did they prescribe any recipes for human well-being. In a…
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On finding hair in the bathtub
“She always leaves her hair in the bathtub.” “Always?” “Well, most of the time.” “So what?” “So, it’s disgusting, and I have to pick it up. Otherwise, I’ll be standing in my own filth because the water won’t drain.” “I take it the world’s not the way you want it to be.” “That’s a nice…
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Senecan meditations
Premeditation In the morning, imagine the worst thing that can happen to you today. It may seem as if doing so would lead you to dwell on bad fortune, to morbid thinking, to panic and anxiety. In truth, Stoical premeditation has the opposite effect: it focuses your attention (a) on accepting what’s beyond your control…
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On our Pollyanna problem
“When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will.” —Pollyanna (1913) 1 When we examine our lives and the lives of others, what should we focus our attention on? To make this question perspicuous, let’s consider a few cases. a) Suppose you apply for a job for which you…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 