happiness - lesson plan

This note last modified October 12, 2022

The world is a little bit on fire, and mental health conditions are on the rise. What does it take to find and maintain happiness?

In this totally-not-depressing Philosophy club meeting, we’ll talk about Oysters in warm baths, idiotic businessmen, and whether it’s better to be a rock or a river.

  • Start with Hayden and the Oyster (Till 15 mins)

  • Use that to transition to higher pleasures and lower pleasures

    • What do you think some higher and lower pleasures are?

  • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

    • Basics
    • Safety
    • Love and Belonging
    • Esteem
    • Self Actualization (Till 30 mins)

  • Fragility

    • Bring up the happy businessman. Why do we not want to live his life. Go into fragility

  • Purpose can help us find something deep seated that allows us to avoid fragility

    • How do you find purpose?
    • Alienation from labor
    • Change vs Happiness
    • Societal change vs happiness (Till 45)

  • Stoicism

  • Buddhism

  • Nihilism

  • Absurdism (Till 60)

  • Hayden and the Oyster

  • Rags to riches or vice versa?

  • Greater pleasures or lower ones?

  • Absurdism

  • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

  • Optimistic Nihilism

  • Happy Businessman

  • Change vs Happiness

  • Societal change vs happiness

  • Doctrine of the mean

3 Act:

Act 1: Happy Businessman, Haydn and the Oyster Act 2: Explain how Businessman brings up discussion of fragility. Haydn and the Oyster brings up higher and lower pleasures. Ask how we can avoid fragility, and how higher and lower pleasures interact w/ Fragility Act 3: A lot of discussion around higher and lower pleasures revolves around Buddhist ideas of going with the flow. Why are these ideas so hard to implement, why do they sound trite?

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