|
Index for PERS-2199 Conceptions of Happiness thru Film Department of Philosophy and
Religious Studies
|
Course Syllabus PERS-2199
Spring 2011
Course
Schedule 2199
Schedule S11
Writing and Project Assignments
See my Reading and Writing
Guidelines
Short Papers are worth 50 % of course grade (see Short
Paper Assignment Page)
You are required to submit one
short paper for each theme of the course. Deadlines are on the course Schedule. Each of the three papers should:
be 3-4 double-spaced typed or word-processed
pages (12 pt. font) in length
discuss the theme for that week (using online
texts, notes and class materials (including discussion);
discuss at least two or three films from the
given theme;
draw some sort of critical conclusion(s)
(i.e., tell me what you think—and
don’t make this an afterthought!).
Final
Projects are worth 25% of course grade
(see Syllabus
for details)
Essay Option
(5-6 page paper)
Film Option
(3-5 minute film)
Samples
Happiness as
Simplicity (keeping it simple but enjoying the details)
Jon and
Thomas Too Geeky (final project showing two friends fighting over cookie
rights end up better for the wear)
Study
Questions for Films (for discussion and paper writing)
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|||||
Online
Reading and Video Materials (for substantive help on your papers and general edificationJ)
For Cohen’s New Rational Therapy
Introduction
(contends that much of people’s unhappiness stems from bad reasoning, and that
our philosophical traditions offer ways to happiness through good reasoning and
decision-making)
For Ancient Greeks
Plato
(428/27-348/47 BC)
|
Reading |
Notes |
|
Text of Apology |
Santas
Notes Apology |
|
Text of Crito |
Santas
Notes Crito |
|
Text of Allegory of the
Cave |
|
Video
BBC Video on
Socrates on Self-Confidence Part I; Part II;
Part
III
Aristotle
(384-322 BC) Nicomachean Ethics
See IEP
article on Aristotle’s Ethics
See Santas
notes on Aristotle
and the Good Life
|
Reading |
Notes |
|
Text of Book I
(Nature of Happiness) |
Santas
Notes Nic.
Ethics, Bk I |
|
Text of Book II
(On Moral Virtue) |
Santas
Notes Nic.
Ethics, Bk II |
|
Text of Book III
(On Choice) |
Santas
Notes Nic.
Ethics, Bk III |
|
Text of Book VII
(On Pleasure) |
Santas
Notes Nic.
Ethics, Bk VII |
|
Text of Book VIII
(On Friendship) |
Santas
Notes Nic.
Ethics, Bks VIII & IX |
|
Text of Book IX
(More on Friendship) |
Epicurus
(341-270 BC)
Reading
Text of Letter to Menoeceus
Video
BBC Video on
Epicurus on Happiness Part I;
Part
II; Part
III
For Stoicism (A Good Life
is one of Reason and Self-Control: Living in Accord with Nature)
Reading
Stanford
Encyclopedia entry on Stoicism
Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) entry on Stoicism
IEP entry on
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180)
Stanford
Encyclopedia entry on Seneca
(4 BC- AD 65)
Video
BBC Video on
Seneca on Anger Part
I; Part
II; Part
III
For Modern Hedonism (A Good Life
is one of Satisfying “Higher” Pleasures)
J. S. Mill
(1806-1873)
Reading
Text of Utilitarianism
(the point of life is happiness)
See esp. Chapter
II (happiness as pleasure—higher vs. lower)
Text of On Liberty (happiness
requires freedom)
|
See especially |
Notes |
|
Chapter
II (free expression) |
Santas
Notes On
Liberty II |
|
Chapter
III (choice of lifestyle) |
Santas
Notes On
Liberty III |
Video
PBS Affluenza video (on
consumerism)
For Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Text of Groundwork
for the Metaphysics of Morals (see after the Preface Section I, in
which he argues that the point of life is not happiness)
For Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)
Walden see especially:
Chapter 2: Where I
Lived, and What I Lived For
Chapter 11: Higher Laws
For Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Reading
Stanford
Encyclopedia entry on
Nietzsche (a general overview of N’s Philosophy)
Wiki Article
on Nietzsche’s
Philosophy (a philosophy of overcoming)
Video
BBC Video on
Nietzsche on Hardship Part I;
Part
II; Part
III
For Sartre (1905-80)
Text of Existentialism
and Humanism (a philosophy of radical freedom and choice)