Read Who Am I and If So How Many? Online
Authors: Richard David Precht
Who Am I and If So How Many? (36 page)
5
‘On the one hand’
Ibid., pp. 322–24.
1
John Rawls, who thought up this model
John Rawls,
A Theory of
Justice
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999); the rules appear in various forms throughout the book, and are given their ‘final statement’ on p. 266. See also John Rawls,
The Law of Peoples
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001). A good introduction to Rawls’s philosophy is offered in Wolfgang Kersting,
John Rawls: Zur Einführung
(Hamburg: Junius, 2001).
2
a state based on a reciprocal contract
For an overview of the contract theory, see Michael von Grundherr,
Moral aus Interesse: Metaethik der Vertragstheorie
(Berlin: Gruyter, 2007) and Hans Christoph Timm,
Solidarität unter Egoisten? Die Legitimation sozialer Gerechtigkeit im liberalen Staat
(Hamburg: Kovac, 2004).
3
‘It is not from the benevolence of the butcher’
Adam Smith,
Wealth of Nations
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), book 1, chap. 2, 1.2.2., p. 22.
4
‘an invisible hand’
Adam Smith,
Theory of Moral Sentiments
(Whitefish, MN: Kessinger Publishing, 2004).
5
Rawls’s colleague at Harvard, Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick spells out his objections to Rawls in his
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
(New York: Basic Books, 1974).
6
Peter Singer … points out that the inhabitants of wealthy countries
Peter Singer’s critique of Rawls is contained in his
Practical Ethics,
2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
7
‘The free development of each’
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
The Communist Manifesto
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 26.
8
‘The main idea is that a person’s good’
Rawls,
Theory of Justice,
pp. 79–80.
1
According to the first
Happy Planet Index
The
Happy Planet Index
is found at www.happyplanetindex.org, and the website of the New Economics Foundation is www.neweconomics.org.
2
the writer Heinrich Böll satirized
Heinrich Böll’s story is in his volume
Erzählungen
(Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2006).
3
The economist Richard Layard
Richard Layard lays out his arguments in
Happiness: Lessons for a New Science
(New York: Penguin, 2005). On happiness economics, see also Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer,
Happiness and Economics: How the Economy and Institutions Affect Human Well-Being
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), and Harald Willenbrock,
Das Dagobert-Dilemma: Wie die Jagd nach Geld unser Leben bestimmt
(Munich: Heyne, 2006).
4
According to theWorld Values Survey
TheWorld Values Survey can be found at www.worldvaluesurvey.org.
5
‘My happiness is the moment of deepest harmony with myself’
Ludwig Marcuse,
Philosophie des Glücks, von Hiob bis Freud
(Zurich: Diogenes, 1972).
6
neuroscientific findings about the mechanisms
On the neurobiology of happiness, see Roth,
Fühlen, Denken, Handeln,
pp. 356–64.
7
Martin Seligman
For Seligman’s prescriptions for attaining happiness, see Martin Seligman,
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
(New York: Free Press, 2002), esp. p. 116.
1
To some, he was the wisest
Two studies of the philosophy and influence of Epicurus are Howard Jones,
The Epicurean Tradition
(New York: Routledge, 1989), and Bernard Frischer,
The Sculpted Word: Epicureanism and Philosophical Recruitment in Ancient Greece
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982). On the life of Epicurus, see Malte Hossenfelder,
Epikur
(Munich: Beck, 2006).
2
‘Stranger, here you will do well to tarry’
The inscription over Epicurus’ garden gate is found in Seneca,
Moral Epistles,
vol. 1, trans.
Richard M. Gummere (Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1917–25), epistle 21.
3
‘You should accustom yourself to believing’
George K. Strodach, ed. and trans.,
The Philosophy of Epicurus
(Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1963), pp. 179–80.
4
‘Independence of external things’
Kenneth Atchity and Rosemary McKenna, eds.,
The Classical Greek Reader
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 240.
5
‘positive psychology’
On the state of positive psychology, see Ann E. Auhagen,
Positive Psychologie: Anleitung zum ‘besseren’ Leben
(Weinheim: Beltz, 2004). See also Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow:
The Psychology of Optimal Experience
(New York: Harper & Row, 1990), and his
Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
(New York: Basic Books, 1998), as well as Michael Argyle,
The Psychology of Happiness
(New York: Routledge, 2002); Daniel Gilbert,
Stumbling on Happiness
(New York: Vintage, 2007); and Daniel Kahneman, Ed Diener, and Norbert Schwarz,
Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology
(New York: Russell Sage, 2004).
6
‘Everything’s good
’ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
The Possessed,
trans. Constance Garnett (New York: Modern Library, 1936), p. 239.
1
‘Let me tell you why you’re here’
www.whatisthematrix.warnerbros. com.
2
‘Would it not be said of him’
Plato’s question is from part 7, 517a, of
The Republic,
trans. Paul Shorey, in Plato,
Collected Dialogues,
ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961), p. 749.
3
Clearly there is something more important than happiness
Robert Nozick advances the idea of the Matrix machine as evidence of the dubious nature of happiness in his book
The Examined Life
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
4
‘The solution of the problem of life’
Wittgenstein,
Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus
, sect. 6.521, pp. 88–89.
5
For Peter Singer, Sartre’s approach lacks
Peter Singer’s remarks about the meaning of life can be found in his book
How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995); the quotation about making the world a better place is on p. 231.
6
For the biophilosopher Daniel Dennett
Dennett lays out his biophilosophical explanation in his
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995).
7
‘if there’s no meaning in it’
Lewis Carroll,
The Annotated Alice,
ed. Martin Gardner (New York: Norton, 1999), p. 123.
8
‘life may have no meaning’
Ashleigh Brilliant’s brilliant ideas and sayings can be found at www.ashleighbrilliant.com.
9
‘the Ultimate Question of Life’
Deep Thought calculates ‘the Ultimate Question of Life’ in Douglas Adams,
The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
(New York: Del Rey, 2002), p. 121.
10
‘In some cases we learn more’
Lloyd Alexander,
The Book of Three, in The Chronicles of Prydain
(New York: Henry Holt, 1999), p. 9.
- abortion
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - acetylcholine
1 - Adams, Douglas
1 - Adorno, Theodor W.
1
,
2
,
3 - adrenaline
1
,
2 - Afar Triangle
1 - Agent Orange
1 - Ahlquist, Jon
1 - Ai (chimp)
1 - Alexander, Lloyd
1 - ‘AL
1
’
2 - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(Carroll)
1 - altruism
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Alzheimer’s disease
1
,
2 - Analysis of the Sensations
(Mach)
1 - Animal Liberation
(Singer)
1 - Animal Peace
1 - animals
1 - Anselm of Canterbury
1
,
2
,
3 - Antinori, Severino
1 - Aplysia
1
,
2 - Aquinas, Thomas
1
,
2 - Armstrong, Louis
1 - Arnhem Zoo
1 - Artificial Clockmaker, The
(Derham)
1 - Austin, John Langshaw
1 - Australopithecus
1
- Baader, Andreas
1 - Bachmann, Ingeborg
1 - Baudrillard, Jean
1 - Beagle
1 - Beatles, The
1 - Beauvoir, Simone de
1
,
2 - Being and Nothingness
(Sartre)
1
,
2 - Bentham, Jeremy
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6 - Berger, Hans
1 - Berkeley, George
1 - Bernays, Martha,
see
Freud - Bernheim, Hippolyte
1 - Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, The
(Nietzsche)
1 - Blackstone, William
1
,
2 - Blind Watchmaker
, The (Dawkins)
1 - Bloch, Ernst
1 - Bolk, Louis
1 - Böll, Heinrich
1 - Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
1 - brain
1- amygdala in
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Broca’s area in
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Broca’s study of
1
, - consciousness and,
see main entry
developmental-regions theory of
1 - divisions in
1 - electrical activity first measured in
1 - electrochemical activity in
1
,
2 - enhancements to,
see
neuroprosthetics - in fish
1 - Flourens’s study of
1 - God in
1 - hypothalamus in
1
,
2 - limbic system of
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
,
8 - MacLean’s study of
1 - magnetic fields in
1 - mind and,
see main entry - mirror neurons in
1
,
2 - MRI provides insights into
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - neurochemical activity in
1 - neurons in
1
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2
,
3
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4
,
5
,
6 - neurotransmitters’ effects on
1 - preconscious intentions formed in
1 - prefrontal cortex of
1
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2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6 - Ramón y Cajal’s study of
1
,
2
,
3 - in reptiles
1 - self and,
see main entry - speech centers in
1 - stem cell from
1 - synapses in
1
,
2
,
3 - ventromedial region of
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - weight, size and consistency of
1 - Wernicke’s area in
1
,
2
,
3 - Wernicke’s study of
1
- amygdala in
- Brehm, Alfred
1 - Breuer, Josef
1
,
2 - Brilliant, Ashleigh
1 - Broca, Paul
1 - Brown, Louise Joy
1 - Buddenbrooks
(Mann)
1 - Bultmann, Rudolf
1
