Seminar Schedule
Philosophy 381—Happiness and Meaning
Michael Taber

Fall 2026

(revised 18 March 2026)

* = sessions available for you to lead

Some materials appear in the Google folder for this class.

date # of pp. readings

I. The Nature and Value of Happiness
Aug. 31	11	Come to the first seminar session having read ch. 1 (“Introduction: The History of Happiness”) of Besser’s The Philosophy of Happiness: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
Sep. 02	8	Besser, ch. 2, “Happiness and Well-Being”
Sep. 04	15 + 5	Besser, ch. 3, “Hedonism” 3 short articles from Philosophy Now magazine: · Corjescu’s “The Happy State” · Andreicut’s “To Connect or Not to Connect” · Buscicchi’s “Robert Nozick’s Metaverse Machine”
Sep. 05		Labor Day: no classes
Sep. 07	10	Besser, ch. 4, “Emotional State of Happiness”
Sep. 09	11	Besser, chs. 5, “Happiness as Satisfaction”
Sep. 10	Thursday—Paper #1: 3-5 pp. due emailed to me at 2:00 pm, or at your tutorial (whichever is earlier); no seminar on 9/11, as tutorials will be scheduled.
Sep. 14	13 + 4	Besser, ch. 6, “Happiness and Material Wealth” · Rauch’s NYT opinion essay “Why Prosperity Has Increased But Happiness Has Not” · from The Economist magazine, “The Satisfaction Paradox” · also from The Economist, “The Anglosphere Is Increasingly Miserable”
Sep. 16	12	Besser, ch. 7, “Happiness and Virtue” French’s NYT opinion piece “The Atmosphere of the ‘Manosphere’ Is Toxic”
Sep. 18	14 + 6	Besser, ch. 8, “Relationships and Happiness” · Wildman’s 2021 NYT opinion essay “Self-Sufficiency Is Overrated” · Brooks’ NYT opinion essay “To Be Happy, Marriage Matters More Than Career” · Brooks’ NYT opinion essay “Your Social Life Is Not What It Should Be” · Kristof’s NYT opinion essay “The Case for Saying ‘I Do’”
Sep 21*	14 3 3	Besser, ch. 9, “The Mindset of Happiness” Brooks’ “Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals” Douthat’s opinion essay “Can the Left Be Happy?”
Sep 23*	11 3	Besser, ch. 10, “Authenticity and Deception” Schwartz’s NYT essay “Is Everybody Doing…OK? Let’s Ask Social Media”
Sep 25*	14 3 3	Besser, ch. 11, “The Pursuit of Happiness” Wilcox, Boyd, & Wang’s NYT guest essay “How Liberals Can Be Happier” Grose’s NYT guest essay “Are We Happy Yet?”
Sep 28*	15	Besser, ch. 12, “The Science of Happiness”
Sep 30*	13	Besser, ch. 13, “Economics and Happiness”
Oct 05*	17	Besser, chs. 14 & 15, “Happiness and Public Policy” & “A Brief Conclusion”
Oct. 07	30	Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Part I
Oct. 09	66	Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Part II
Oct. 12	No classes due to Fall Reading Days, Oct. 12^th & 13^th
Oct. 14	Paper #2: 4-6 pp. due emailed to me at 2:00 pm, or at your tutorial (whichever is earlier); no seminar, as tutorials will be scheduled the 14^th and 15^th.
II. Accounts of Meaning
Oct 16*	10 2	Tolstoy’s “My Confession,” ch.1 in Klemke & Cahn’s The Meaning of Life, 4^th ed. Kavaloski’s “Should We Pursue Happiness?”
Oct. 19	19	Handouts in the course’s Google folder: · Ecclesiastes (from the Hebrew Bible), just chapters 1-3 · Hamlet’s third soliloquy · Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm” (with Shelley & Coleridge) · Shelley’s “Ozymandias” (on the Poe & Coleridge page) · Coleridge’s “Human Life: On the Denial of Immortality” (on the Poe & Shelley page) · Voltaire’s “The Good Brahmin” · Kafka’s 2 (very!) short stories, “Before the Law” & “An Imperial Message” · Raymo’s “The Soul of the Night” On the web, Hershovitz’s NYT article “Praying to a God You Don’t Believe In”
Oct. 21	37	Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays: · “Absurdity and Suicide” · “Absurd Walls” (to p. 22) · “Philosophical Suicide” (through p. 31) · “Absurd Freedom”
Oct. 23	13	Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays: · “The Absurd Man” (to p. 69) · “Ephemeral Creation” · “The Myth of Sisyphus”
Oct 26*	6 7	In Klemke & Cahn’s The Meaning of Life, 4^th ed.: · ch. 6 Schopenhauer’s “On the Sufferings of the World” · ch. 7 Russell’s “A Free Man’s Worship” 3 graphics: Abstruse Goose’s “The Sliver of Perception” & 2 charts from The Economist magazine
Oct 28*	9	ch. 12 Taylor’s “The Meaning of Life”
Oct 30*	10 1	ch. 13 Nagel’s “The Absurd” from The New Yorker magazine, Roz Chast’s one-page comic “A Cheery Story”
Nov 02*	8 3 3 3 2	· ch. 17 Nozick’s “Philosophy and the Meaning of Life” · ch. 18 Wolf’s “Meaning in Life” · ch. 19 Vitrano’s “Meaningful Lives” · King’s “Looking for the Purpose of Life” · Vaughn’s “Why You’re (Probably) Wrong about the Meaning of Life”
Nov. 04	No classes due to Wellness Day
Nov. 05	Thursday—Paper #3 due at 2:00 pm or at your tutorial (whichever is earlier); no class 11/06 due to tutorials being held.
Nov 09*	8	ch. 20 Nagel’s “Death”
Nov 11*	8 2 5	· chs. 23-25 Scheffler’s “The Afterlife” with Frankfurt’s and Wolf’s responses · “Can the Fear of Death Instantly Make You a Better Athlete?” · Cara Buckley’s interview with Les Knight about his Voluntary Human Extinction movement
Nov. 13	57	Camus’ The Stranger, part I
Nov. 16	60	Camus’ The Stranger, part II Look through, if you like, this short piece about the role of Meursault’s mother.
Nov 18*	5 7	· ch. 5 Rosemont’s “The Confucian Way” · Hare’s “Nothing Matters”
Nov 20*	47	Alessandri’s Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods, Introduction, “Doubting the Light” ch. 1, “Getting Honest about Anger”
Nov. 23	Teach Your Family, first installment
Thanksgiving Break
Nov 30*	27	Alessandri’s ch. 2, “I Suffer, Therefore I Am”
Dec 02*	26	Alessandri’s ch. 3, “Grieving Stubbornly”
Dec 04*	32	Alessandri’s ch. 4, “Recoloring Depression”
Dec 07*	38	Alessandri’s ch. 5, “Learning to Be Anxious”
Dec. 09	9	Alessandri’s “Conclusion: Practicing Night Vision”
Dec. 11	Teach Your Family, second installment
Wed, Dec. 16		Paper #4 due at end of our final exam slot, 9:15 p.m.

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