Seminar Materials
Philosophy 381—Happiness & Meaning

Michael Taber
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA
Fall 2024

1. The first book we’ll use is Lorraine Besser’s The Philosophy of Happiness: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, and we’ll use this until the end of September. You will rent and access it through Perusall; create an account at their site, and then use the course code TABER-LGDKG to open the readings for this seminar. The direct link is:
https://app.perusall.com/join/taber-lgdkg

Second, the remaining books will be available in the Campus Store for purchase or rent, or you can get them on your own:

2. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, translated by Constance Garnett (2009, Hackett Publishing), ISBN: 978-0872209053

3. E. D. Klemke and Steven Cahn’s The Meaning of Life: A Reader, 4^th ed. (2017, Oxford University Press), ISBN: 978-0190674199

4. Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays (1991, Vintage Books), ISBN: 978-0679733737

5. Albert Camus’ The Stranger (1989, Vintage Books), ISBN: 978-0679720201

6. Nick Riggle’s This Beauty: A Philosophy of Being Alive (2022, Basic Books), ISBN: 978-1541675506

Third, some materials (mostly short readings) are linked to the Google folder for this seminar, or to external sites.

Fourth, a few readings are linked to New York Times articles, to which—though you may not realize it—you already have a subscription; our library has worked out a deal with the NYT whereby all SMCM students, faculty, and staff can activate a subscription at no additional charge. (Beyond your tuition, that is!)

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Send me mail: mstaber at smcm dot edu

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