The Science of Philosophy: Recent Episodes
Tarek Zaher
Welcome to The Science of Philosophy where we evaluate philosophic ideas scientifically. Nearly every philosopher throughout history makes claims about the world which trespass overtly into the realm of science. But we know that if we want to arrive at the truth, just thinking about it or scraping together a few biased anecdotes is utterly inadequate in getting there. Therefore, if philosophy is ever going to be more than the mere asking of questions, which art often does better anyway, it has to integrate science into itself. That is the spirit with which this podcast will embark. Each episode we'll go through the philosophy of an idea or a particular thinker and see what the relevant scientific research has to say about it. Some ideas will be proven correct, some will remain ambiguous, and some will be flat out wrong. If this sounds like something that could be valuable to you, feel free to listen and subscribe. Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on twitter @Zaher_Tarek.
What is happiness? Is it even worth pursuing? Is a happy life different from a meaningful one?
In this episode I try to clear up some confusion surrounding the word “happiness”. We typically think of happiness as being synonymous with positive emotion—joy, bliss, excitement, all of those kinds of emotions—but Nietzsche hates this. He tends to define true happiness as involving a strong sense of meaning or purpose and he tends to harshly criticize anyone who ignores this component of happiness. And indeed, the science does seem to align with him on this point. I compare Nietzsche’s criticisms of this purely hedonic happiness with the founder of modern positive psychology, Martin Seligman’s PERMA theory of human well-being in addition to my usual exploration of what these issues have to do with everyday people like you and me.
Some Sources/Further Reading:
- The Portable Nietzsche edited and translated by Walter Kaufmann
- Basic Writings of Nietzsche edited and translated by Walter Kaufmann
- Bett, Richard. “Nietzsche, the Greeks, and Happiness (with Special Reference to Aristotle and Epicurus).” Philosophical Topics, vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 45–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43154726.
- Existentialism by Robert Solomon
- From Rationalism to Existentialism: The Existentialists and Their Nineteenth-century Backgrounds by Robert Solomon
- Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life by Robert Solomon
- Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Tanner
- Happiness: A History by Darrin M. McMahon
- Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
- Flourish (A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being) by Marin Seligman
- Is a Happy Life Different From a Meaningful Life?
- Take the PERMA-profiler
Featured Music:
- Monplaisir — Everything is true
- Rex Orange County — UNO
What does Friedrick Nietzsche's famous declaration that "God is dead" actually mean? Is his claim vindicated by science? Why should we even care? This episode explores these topics and others such as where Jordan Peterson and the New Atheists go wrong in interpreting Nietzsche, David Foster Wallace's claim that we all worship something whether we're aware of it or not, and my own cast of characters grappling with real-life problems related to these questions.
Some Sources/Further Reading:
- The Portable Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufmann
- Basic Writings of Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufmann
- From Rationalism to Existentialism: The Existentialists and Their Nineteenth-century Backgrounds by Robert C. Solomon
- Existentialism by Robert C. Solomon
- Nietzsche, A Very Short Introduction by Michael Tanner
- This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace
- Is God Dead? No, but belief has declined slightly by David Masci and Gregory A. Smith
- Religious Landscape Study: Belief in God by Pew Research Center
- Religious Landscape Study: Views about human evolution by Pew Research Center
- Few Americans turn to religious leaders for advice when making major life decisions by Pew Research Center
- Religious Landscape Study: Importance of religion in one's life by Pew Research Center
Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on Twitter @Zaher_Tarek
What is philosophy? What is science? What should the relationship between the two be? This episode explores these topics as well as others such as the appreciation of life in light of death, the capability we all have to philosophize, and a rough framework for how we might lead more engaged, happier lives using both science and, inevitably, philosophy.
Some Sources/Further Reading:
- The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseski
- The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone by Scott Samuelson
- Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw
- Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
- Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative? in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500-1700 by Peter Dear
- A Little History of Science by William Bynum
- Knowledge Is Power: How Magic, the Government and an Apocalyptic Vision Helped Francis Bacon to Create Modern Science by John Henry
- What is Political Philosophy? by Leo Strauss
- The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience by Lee McIntyre
Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on Twitter @Zaher_Tarek
