Fallenness and Flourishing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hud Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Seven Deadly Sins ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
The Many ◽  
Causes Of Failure ◽  
Objective List

This book opens with defenses of the philosophy of pessimism, first on secular grounds and then again on distinctively Christian grounds with reference to the fallenness of human beings. It then details traditional Christian reasons for optimism with which this philosophy of pessimism can be qualified. Yet even among those who accept the general religious worldview underlying this optimism, many nevertheless willfully resist the efforts required to cooperate with God and instead pursue happiness and well-being (or flourishing) on their own power. On the assumption that we can acquire knowledge in such matters, arguments are presented in favor of objective-list theories of well-being and the Psychic Affirmation theory of happiness, and the question—“How are people faring in this quest for self-achieved happiness and well-being?”—is critically investigated. The unfortunate result is that nearly everywhere people are failing. The causes of failure, it is argued, are found in the noetic effects of sin—especially in inordinate self-love and self-deception, but also in insufficient self-love—and such failure manifests both in widespread unhappiness and in that most misunderstood of the seven deadly sins, sloth. After a literary tour designed to reveal the many different ways that sloth can damage a life, a constructive proposal for responding to this predicament featuring the virtue of obedience is articulated and defended. This virtue is analyzed, illustrated, located in a new theory of well-being, and recommended to the reader.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the Economy: A Methodological Journey from the Surface to the Essence and Back

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-493
Author(s):  
Peter Karl Fleissner
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
New Science ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Protection Mechanisms ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
The Many ◽  
Copy Protection

The essential methodology in social science to “understand” phenomena is informed abstraction. But the way - how and what for the abstraction process is shaped - divides the economists into various schools. While mainstream econ- omists abstract from any links of the economy to human beings - replacing them by selfish machines maximizing their prof- its or individual utilities, and neglecting any deeper analysis of the basic constructions they use (like prices or money), heterodox economists try to look behind the surface, link them to certain periods of history and to the source of all value: humans are social beings and cannot exist without mutuality. The paper presents a heterodox way to reconstruct contempo- rary capitalist economies by applying the new science of information with its evolutionary concepts. It starts the description on a very abstract level: useful things and services produced by specialized labor. Step by step new layers of economic activities and related information are added and become the basis for the next one. Vice versa economic activities on lower layers become controlled and modified by higher layers. One can see that the higher controlling principles in contemporary capitalist economies do not assist the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the majority of people, but function ac- cording to the self-interest of a minority. For the first time in history capitalism has developed new technologies that in prin- ciple could allow for the participation of the many, to create abundance of information, and to offer tools for building a de- mocratic and sustainable society. But by the same capitalism, rigid Intellectual Property Rights and severe copy protection mechanisms enforce artificial shortage of information goods.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the Economy: A Methodological Journey from the Surface to the Essence and Back

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-493
Author(s):  
Peter Karl Fleissner
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
New Science ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Protection Mechanisms ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
The Many ◽  
Copy Protection

The essential methodology in social science to “understand” phenomena is informed abstraction. But the way - how and what for the abstraction process is shaped - divides the economists into various schools. While mainstream econ- omists abstract from any links of the economy to human beings - replacing them by selfish machines maximizing their prof- its or individual utilities, and neglecting any deeper analysis of the basic constructions they use (like prices or money), heterodox economists try to look behind the surface, link them to certain periods of history and to the source of all value: humans are social beings and cannot exist without mutuality. The paper presents a heterodox way to reconstruct contempo- rary capitalist economies by applying the new science of information with its evolutionary concepts. It starts the description on a very abstract level: useful things and services produced by specialized labor. Step by step new layers of economic activities and related information are added and become the basis for the next one. Vice versa economic activities on lower layers become controlled and modified by higher layers. One can see that the higher controlling principles in contemporary capitalist economies do not assist the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the majority of people, but function ac- cording to the self-interest of a minority. For the first time in history capitalism has developed new technologies that in prin- ciple could allow for the participation of the many, to create abundance of information, and to offer tools for building a de- mocratic and sustainable society. But by the same capitalism, rigid Intellectual Property Rights and severe copy protection mechanisms enforce artificial shortage of information goods.

scholarly journals Defending a Hybrid of Objective List and Desire Theories of Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 229-256
Author(s):  
William A. Lauinger
Keyword(s):  
Flow Structure ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Being There ◽  
Objective List

This chapter extends previous work by the author on a view of human well-being that is a hybrid of objective list theories and desire theories. Though some of the chapter’s content traverses old ground, much is new—not in terms of ultimate conclusions, but rather in terms of routes toward these ultimate conclusions and certain implications of these ultimate conclusions (e.g., implications concerning the measurement of well-being). There are two different visions of what human beings are that the author privileges and attempts to synthesize: first, a broadly Aristotelian vision that pushes us toward an objective list theory and, second, a vision of humans as unique individuals with different sets of intrinsic desires, where this desire-focused vision is itself informed by Jacques Lacan and his view that each human self is constituted by a particular and dynamic chains-of-signifiers-plus-desire-flow structure.

Thus Mammon Spake

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-81
Author(s):  
Hud Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Philosophical Methodology ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
Desire Fulfillment ◽  
Objective List

Even those who endorse the religious worldview underlying the optimism discussed in the first chapter frequently willfully resist the efforts required to cooperate with God and to respond to the demands that love places upon us with respect to God and neighbor. Like the demons in Paradise Lost, many of us are beguiled by the prospect of pursuing our own happiness and well-being (or flourishing) on our own power, of making a Heaven of the Hell that the philosophy of pessimism has taught us is our current abode. Thus many of us adopt the frame of mind in which we are willing to trust in our own powers, skill, artistry, intelligence, and all the magnificent resources of our own selves. No need of God. No loss in rebellion. This chapter defends certain maligned aspects of a popular philosophical methodology and then conducts a critical study of the current leading literature on well-being and happiness. Assuming we can come to have knowledge of these matters, the chapter critically examines and argues against hedonistic, desire-fulfillment, and perfectionistic theories of well-being, advocating instead for an objective-list theory, and critically examines and argues against hedonistic and life-satisfaction theories of happiness, advocating instead for the Psychic Affirmation view. Thus, the attempt to seek out happiness and well-being on our own power without the benefit of reconciliation with the divine need not be thwarted by skepticism about happiness and well-being.

Libido Sentiendi, Libido Sciendi, Libido Dominandi

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-119
Author(s):  
Hud Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Pattern Of Failure ◽  
The Real ◽  
Seven Deadly Sins ◽  
Systemic Oppression ◽  
Causes Of Failure

This chapter offers a report from the front lines where the battle for self-achieved happiness and well-being (or flourishing) is decidedly not going well. After counter-reports of success from those in the field are examined, secular reasons are offered for thinking that these reports are very likely to be unreliable and so lack the power to trump the mountain of evidence for the view that there are precious few who flourish when drawing only on the resources of their own willpower, creativity, and ingenuity. But it’s not due to lack of trying; people want desperately to enjoy happiness and well-being. The real causes of failure, it is argued, are found in the noetic effects of sin—particularly in inordinate self-love and self-deception, but also (especially in those who have been further harmed and humiliated by relentless and systemic oppression) in insufficient self-love and the lack of safety, resources, and opportunities. The tale to be told is not merely a chronicle of failed bids at happiness and well-being ultimately grounded in our shared condition of sin; it is also a tale of the unhappiness that visits so many of those who fall into this pattern of failure. This portion of the story will be informed and structured by the seven capital vices (also known as the seven deadly sins), and it will culminate in a sustained examination and exploration of the sin of sloth.

Perfectionism

Philosophy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Wall
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Human Good ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many

The term perfectionism in philosophy, unlike its more common usage in popular psychology, denotes a range of theoretical positions. There are perfectionist accounts of ethics, perfectionist accounts of well-being, and perfectionist accounts of politics. These positions are often mutually supportive, but one can accept some of them while rejecting others. Perfectionist views purport to be objective in that they characterize states of affairs, character traits, activities, and/or relationships as good in themselves and not good in virtue of the fact that they are desired or enjoyed by human beings. In the history of philosophy, perfectionism has a long and impressive pedigree. It is often associated with ethical theories that characterize the human good in terms of the development and exercise of capacities that are taken to be central to human nature. Aristotle is the foundational figure in this tradition, but perfectionist arguments of this kind can be found in writers as diverse as Aquinas, Kant, (arguably) Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, G. E. Moore, and T. H. Green, among others. Perfectionism also has been associated with ethical theories that, while not tying the human good specifically to the development of human nature, accept some alternative objective account of the human good. Typically, such views have a teleological structure, holding that we have duties to promote the good. More recently, perfectionism has been used to refer to political theories that reject the liberal principle of state neutrality and hold that it is permissible for states to favor, actively and intentionally, objectively valuable conceptions of the good over base ones. Perfectionism, in both moral and political philosophy, has often been charged with being anti-egalitarian and hostile to individual liberty. This charge is encouraged and sustained by a selective focus on the elitist ideas of certain influential perfectionist writers, such as Nietzsche. For these writers, what matters is the excellence of the few, not the mediocrity of the many. It is a mistake, however, to identify perfectionism with any specific articulation of it. Contemporary defenses of perfectionism have attempted to show how its central ideas are compatible with, and indeed supportive of, human equality and individual autonomy.

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

The Measure of Greatness

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Nature ◽  
Complex Trajectory ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Excellence ◽  
Ethical Perspectives

Magnanimity is a virtue that has led many lives. Foregrounded early on by Plato as the philosophical virtue par excellence, it became one of the crown jewels in Aristotle’s account of human excellence and was accorded an equally salient place by other ancient thinkers. One of the most distinctive elements of the ancient tradition to filter into the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds, it sparked important intellectual engagements there and went on to carve deep tracks through several later philosophies that inherited from this tradition. Under changing names, under reworked forms, it continued to breathe in the thought of Descartes and Hume, Kant and Nietzsche, and their successors. Its many lives have been joined by important continuities. Yet they have also been fragmented by discontinuities—discontinuities reflecting larger shifts in ethical perspectives and competing answers to questions about the nature of the good life, the moral nature of human beings, and their relationship to the social and natural world they inhabit. They have also been punctuated by moments of controversy in which the greatness of this vision of human greatness has itself been called into doubt. This volume provides a window to the complex trajectory of a virtue whose glitter has at times been as heady as it has been divisive. By exploring the many lives it has lived, we will be in a better position to decide whether and why this is a virtue we might still want to make central to our own ethical lives.

scholarly journals Connecting Climate and Communicable Disease to Penta Helix Using Hierarchical Likelihood Structural Equation Modelling

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 657
Author(s):  
Rezzy Eko Caraka ◽  
Maengseok Noh ◽  
Rung-Ching Chen ◽  
Youngjo Lee ◽  
Prana Ugiana Gio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latent Variables ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Hierarchical Likelihood

Design: Health issues throughout the sustainable development goals have also been integrated into one ultimate goal, which helps to ensure a healthy lifestyle as well as enhances well-being for any and all human beings of all social level. Meanwhile, regarding the clime change, we may take urgent action to its impacts. Purpose: Nowadays, climate change makes it much more difficult to control the pattern of diseases transmitted and sometimes hard to prevent. In line with this, Centres for Disease Control (CDC) Taiwan grouped the spread of disease through its source in the first six main groups. Those are food or waterborne, airborne or droplet, vector-borne, sexually transmitted or blood-borne, contact transmission, and miscellaneous. According to this, academics, government, and the private sector should work together and collaborate to maintain the health issue. This article examines and connects the climate and communicable aspects towards Penta-Helix in Taiwan. Finding: In summary, we have been addressing the knowledge center on the number of private companies throughout the health care sector, the number of healthcare facilities, and the education institutions widely recognized as Penta Helix. In addition, we used hierarchical likelihood structural equation modeling (HSEMs). All the relationship variables among climate, communicable disease, and Penta Helix can be interpreted through the latent variables with GoF 79.24%.

scholarly journals Science needs more external evaluation, not less

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842110191
Author(s):  
Loes Knaapen
Keyword(s):  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
External Evaluation ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quantitative Performance ◽  
The Many ◽  
Lay Public

When science is evaluated by bureaucrats and administrators, it is usually done by quantified performance metrics, for the purpose of economic productivity. Olof Hallonsten criticizes both the means (quantification) and purpose (economization) of such external evaluation. I share the concern that such neoliberal performance metrics are shallow, over-simplified and inaccurate, but differ in how best to oppose this reductionism. Hallonsten proposes to replace quantitative performance metrics with qualitative in-depth evaluation of science, which would keep evaluation internal to scientific communities. I argue that such qualitative internal evaluation will not be enough to challenge current external evaluation since it does little to counteract neoliberal politics, and fails to provide the accountability that science owes the public. To assure that the many worthy purposes of science (i.e. truth, democracy, well-being, justice) are valued and pursued, I argue science needs more and more diverse external evaluation. The diversification of science evaluation can go in many directions: towards both quantified performance metrics and qualitative internal assessments and beyond economic productivity to value science’s broader societal contributions. In addition to administrators and public servants, science evaluators must also include diverse counterpublics of scientists: civil society, journalists, interested lay public and scientists themselves. More diverse external evaluation is perhaps no more accurate than neoliberal quantified metrics, but by valuing the myriad contributions of science and the diversity of its producers and users, it is hopefully less partial and perhaps more just.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document