Mar 15, 2024 06:30 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2024 06:38 PM by C C.)
Among the antinatalists (the case against having children)
https://harpers.org/archive/2024/03/the-...th-barber/
EXCERPT: As our Google Doc sprawled, more reasons not to have kids accumulated: Philanthropic antinatalism (meaning, in this context, generously sparing the unborn from the suffering of life), which is probably the dominant strain. But there is also misanthropic antinatalism, which is concerned about the harm that your kids will do to others and the planet, eating its animals and washing beaded facial scrubs down the drain and so forth. Also worth considering is whether you might be happier without kids: Antinatalists also talk about maternal regret, which some research shows is more common than we tend to admit. Perhaps there can be happiness, they argue, in not having to worry about the happiness of a person you made, in avoiding the pain of witnessing your child’s inevitable unhappiness... (MORE - missing details)
The “New Happy”: rethinking happiness through science and philosophy
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/the-new-happy-movement/
EXCERPTS: For [Stephanie] Harrison, “We had gotten happiness all wrong as a society.” And that’s a big problem. “We’re arguing that the pursuit of happiness drives every single one of our behaviors and everything that we do. So, if we have a flawed definition of happiness, then we will engage in behaviors that ultimately end up leading us astray.”
In the first chapter of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argued that happiness is the “end at which all actions must aim.” Everything we do — every act or duty, virtue, or vice — we do because we think it will make us happy. Harrison’s point, echoing Aristotle’s, is to say that if happiness is the end goal of everything, we better be sure the end goal is worth it.
The problem is that, somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what happiness really means. For Harrison, our modern understanding of happiness is a warped simulacrum — a misguided, confused ghost of reality. This “Old Happy” is defined by three fundamental values that not only won’t make us happy but steer us toward the opposite. The values are:
Individualism: the idea that “you don’t need anybody else” and “figure it out by yourself.”
Capitalism: you must be successful; resting is laziness; and your value is defined by what you do.
Domination: we all feel the need to “compete and win” and to constantly compare ourselves with others. We place them, and ourselves, on some kind of ranking system.
So many of our negative behaviors keep in step with these “Old Happy” values. It sees wealth and constant accumulation as necessary to be happy. It confuses unemployment or “me time” with fecklessness. It seeks constant validation, achievement, and recognition.
It should be obvious, then, that if these existing values are what make us anxious, lonely, and unhappy, then we need to not only jettison them but upend them. It’s not that we’ve been walking the wrong path — we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. Part of the New Happy mindset is to recognize the perniciousness of the Old Happy values and take proactive steps to overcome them... (MORE - missing details)
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Cynic's Corner: Being entitled to the "pursuit of happiness" is a recent idea, anyway. It's arguably a less blatant offshoot of hedonism. And standards for it vary. Some individuals actually enjoy risky endeavors. (For example, Steve Irwin finally lost to the odds in 2006 when a stingray penetrated his chest.)
https://harpers.org/archive/2024/03/the-...th-barber/
EXCERPT: As our Google Doc sprawled, more reasons not to have kids accumulated: Philanthropic antinatalism (meaning, in this context, generously sparing the unborn from the suffering of life), which is probably the dominant strain. But there is also misanthropic antinatalism, which is concerned about the harm that your kids will do to others and the planet, eating its animals and washing beaded facial scrubs down the drain and so forth. Also worth considering is whether you might be happier without kids: Antinatalists also talk about maternal regret, which some research shows is more common than we tend to admit. Perhaps there can be happiness, they argue, in not having to worry about the happiness of a person you made, in avoiding the pain of witnessing your child’s inevitable unhappiness... (MORE - missing details)
The “New Happy”: rethinking happiness through science and philosophy
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/the-new-happy-movement/
EXCERPTS: For [Stephanie] Harrison, “We had gotten happiness all wrong as a society.” And that’s a big problem. “We’re arguing that the pursuit of happiness drives every single one of our behaviors and everything that we do. So, if we have a flawed definition of happiness, then we will engage in behaviors that ultimately end up leading us astray.”
In the first chapter of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argued that happiness is the “end at which all actions must aim.” Everything we do — every act or duty, virtue, or vice — we do because we think it will make us happy. Harrison’s point, echoing Aristotle’s, is to say that if happiness is the end goal of everything, we better be sure the end goal is worth it.
The problem is that, somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what happiness really means. For Harrison, our modern understanding of happiness is a warped simulacrum — a misguided, confused ghost of reality. This “Old Happy” is defined by three fundamental values that not only won’t make us happy but steer us toward the opposite. The values are:
Individualism: the idea that “you don’t need anybody else” and “figure it out by yourself.”
Capitalism: you must be successful; resting is laziness; and your value is defined by what you do.
Domination: we all feel the need to “compete and win” and to constantly compare ourselves with others. We place them, and ourselves, on some kind of ranking system.
So many of our negative behaviors keep in step with these “Old Happy” values. It sees wealth and constant accumulation as necessary to be happy. It confuses unemployment or “me time” with fecklessness. It seeks constant validation, achievement, and recognition.
It should be obvious, then, that if these existing values are what make us anxious, lonely, and unhappy, then we need to not only jettison them but upend them. It’s not that we’ve been walking the wrong path — we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. Part of the New Happy mindset is to recognize the perniciousness of the Old Happy values and take proactive steps to overcome them... (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - - - - - -
Cynic's Corner: Being entitled to the "pursuit of happiness" is a recent idea, anyway. It's arguably a less blatant offshoot of hedonism. And standards for it vary. Some individuals actually enjoy risky endeavors. (For example, Steve Irwin finally lost to the odds in 2006 when a stingray penetrated his chest.)
