A noted philosopher proposes a naturalistic (rather than
supernaturalistic) way to solve the "really hard problem" how to live in
a meaningful way--how to live a life that really matters--even as a
finite material being living in a material world.
If consciousness is "the hard problem" in mind science--explaining how
the amazing private world of consciousness emerges from neuronal
activity--then "the really hard problem," writes Owen Flanagan in this
provocative book, is explaining how meaning is possible in the material
world. How can we make sense of the magic and mystery of life
naturalistically, without an appeal to the supernatural? How do we say
truthful and enchanting things about being human if we accept the fact
that we are finite material beings living in a material world, or, in
Flanagan's description, short-lived pieces of organized cells and
tissue?
Flanagan's answer is both naturalistic and enchanting. We all wish to
live in a meaningful way, to live a life that really matters, to
flourish, to achieve eudaimonia--to be a "happy spirit." Flanagan
calls his "empirical-normative" inquiry into the nature, causes, and
conditions of human flourishing eudaimonics. Eudaimonics, systematic
philosophical investigation that is continuous with science, is the
naturalist's response to those who say that science has robbed the world
of the meaning that fantastical, wishful stories once provided.
Flanagan draws on philosophy, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and
psychology, as well as on transformative mindfulness and
self-cultivation practices that come from such nontheistic spiritual
traditions as Buddhism, Confucianism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, in
his quest. He gathers from these disciplines knowledge that will help us
understand the nature, causes, and constituents of well-being and
advance human flourishing. Eudaimonics can help us find out how to
make a difference, how to contribute to the accumulation of good
effects--how to live a meaningful life.
