Tags
'Flow' Achilles Aquinas Aristotle Art Bayesian Brain Cancer Children Confidence Cosmopolitanism Csikszentmihalyi Death Emergent phenomena Ethics Eudaimonia Fear Friends Friendship Happiness Herbert McCabe Hobbies Jenny Holzer Joy Kids Kierkegaard Leadership Life Montaigne Nietzsche Olympics Parenting Poem Poetics Poetry Rain Relevant Complexity Seneca Servan-Schreiber Stoic Stress Truisms Utilitarianism Virtue Wellbeing WorkTop Posts
-
Recent Posts
Blogroll
- Aquinas' Summa Theologica
- Aristotle's Ethics
- Aristotle's Poetics
- Aristotle's Politics
- Csikszentmihalyi's 'Flow' Psychology
- De Botton's 'Consolations of Philosophy'
- Edmonds & Warburton's 'Philosophy Bites'
- Epictetus's Stoicism
- Homer's Iliad
- John Kay's Obliquity
- Kierkegaard's Existentialism
- Montaigne's Essays
- New Scientist
- Servan-Schrieber's Anticancer
- Sextus Empiricus's Pyrrhonian Scepticism
Categories
Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
Tag Archives: Eudaimonia
Complex Pleasures
Talking last night with friends about ‘pleasure’, we recognised it’s a complex beast. One of our party admitted she was happy with her life but generally not happy as she lived it. How could this be? I listened again to … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Children, Life, Philosophy, Psychology
Tagged Aristotle, Eudaimonia, Flourishing, Happy, Hedonism, Mood, Pleasure, Sad
2 Comments
Poetic Licence
The experience of rapidly tapping out some words (‘School Run’ below), to manage my stress and frustration at my son not getting out of the car this Thursday morning, was an interesting one. There’s something about tapping an iPhone screen … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Children, Life, Poetry
Tagged Aristotle, Eudaimonia, No more and no less than needed, Poetic Licence, Poetics, Poetry, Rhyme, Transcendent and Universal, Verse
Leave a comment
Poetry in Motion
A few weeks ago, newly enamoured of poetry, I wrote a short ditty to capture what I think increasingly drives my life. It came out quite easily so I guessed it might be quite close. But then I forgot about … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Aristotle, Poetry
Tagged Aquinas, Aristotle, Csikszentmihalyi, Eudaimonia, Family, Friends, Happiness, Homer, John Kay, Knowledge & Ideas, Life, Love, McCabe, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Poetry, Sceptics, Simon Armitage, Socrates, Stoic, Stoics
Leave a comment
The Good Life
I used to be a strict Act Utilitarian – the moral act is the one that produces the most overall happiness or least harm. The undergraduate philosophy case studies all seemed clear cut to me. Knowing what we know now, … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Life, Psychology
Tagged Arete, Aristotle, Bayesian Brain, Bentham, Csikszentmihalyi, Ethics, Eudaimonia, Happiness, Mill, Moral Philosophy, Telos, The Harp Player, Utilitarianism, Virtue, William Blake
Leave a comment
Kisses
As my other half left the house for work one morning this week, my daughter was a bit sad. My daughter and son were perched with me on the back of the sofa. My partner waved to us through the … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Truisms
Tagged Children, Contentment, Eudaimonia, Happiness, Joy, Kisses, Parenthood
1 Comment
Marseillaise
Reading Csikszentmihalyi on a family Bank Holiday in sunny France, I was reminded of the tyranny of progress and performance. Not that it was Csikszentmihalyi’s fault. We’d been talking with friends the night before going away about learning musical instruments … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Psychology
Tagged 'Flow', 'Intermediate French', Csikszentmihalyi, Eudaimonia, Fun, Hobbies, Performance, Progress, The action of water on a stone, Tyranny of Progress, Ukulele
1 Comment
Fluid Dynamics
A good friend put me onto the ‘flow’ psychology of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. As is not uncommon with names with unfamiliar spellings, it’s easy to glide over Csikszentmihalyi in text while subconsciously logging him as unpronounceable. But if you are going … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Life, Psychology
Tagged 'Flow', Challenge, Csikszentmihalyi, Einstein, Eudaimonia, Harold Wilson, Malcolm Gladwell, Nijinski, Paul Scholes, Skill
7 Comments
Inner Disposition
Twice this week I made myself feel a lot better by acting to adjust my ‘inner disposition’. Before Christmas I read the Stoic Epictetus’s ‘Handbook’. The translator and expert guide Keith Seddon has produced a simple summary of Stoicism in … Continue reading
Posted in Achilles, Aristotle, Life
Tagged Achilles, Anger, Aristotle, Epictetus, Eudaimonia, Fearlessness, In the Moment, Inner Disposition, Keith Seddon, Kierkegaard, Letting Go, Peace of Mind, Ranting, Risk, Serenity, Stoicism
2 Comments
Indignity
Life is full of indignities, small and large. I, like most people, am easily persuaded that life’s indignities have been targeted at me by some malign intent. Human beings are programmed to look for causation. It’s a key survival skill. … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Life
Tagged Aristotle, Bayesian Brain, Death, Epictetus, Eudaimonia, Friends, Happiness, Indignity, Religion
5 Comments
The Harp Player
In pursuit of the good life, Aristotle has sent me in a couple of very important directions recently. First the harp. He says that the work of the harp player is to play the harp, and of the good harp … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Life
Tagged Aristotle, Contemplation, Contentment, Eudaimonia, Fatherhood, Friendship, Fulfillment, Happiness, Jefferson, Pleasure, The Harp, Thinking, Virtue, Work
3 Comments
