IDIS 203 - Happiness:Holy Grail West Soc

4 Credits

1 Units

In The Conquest of Happiness, Bertrand Russell makes us look at the many ways we choose to be miserable despite our circumstances. This course will explore the different meanings and definitions of happiness, the way western culture tries to measure it, as opposed to the way eastern culture approaches it. Individual happiness versus social happiness, who says happiness is a promised part of the human condition? Was paradise The Happy Place? How and why did we lose it? Is guilt part of our self inflicted misery/punishment? Is happiness moral? How are well-being, welfare, contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction or absence of pain related to happiness? Is happiness comparing ourselves to the less fortunate? Is counting our blessings a key to happiness? Is happiness a mean or a goal? Can one buy a positive outlook on life? How does one pursue happiness? What did Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard write about happiness? Happiness as viewed by art, psychology, sociology, economy and religion. (U2, II.C.2) 1 unit/4 cr.

Credit Type Code: Letter Grade