But what is happiness? Is it just economic satisfaction, or chiefly economic satisfaction, which is the way economists generally use it? According to the world's wisdom traditions, happiness in the highest sense is associated historically with being at peace, which is a considered "spiritual" rather than physical in the sense that happiness is not equatable with physical pleasure or material satisfaction.
"Utility," derived from Bentham and Mills' Utilitarianism, is a fancy word that economists use to mean satisfaction, which is the contemporary term for 18 c. Utilitarian "happiness" that was inspired by Greek: εὐδαιμονία eudaimonía)," itself derived from Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. The Greek term eudaimonía is also translated as "welfare," another term in use in economics. Literally, it means "good spirits." This could be thought of as wellbeing.
Friends, administrative coordinators, benefits-eligible staff: lend me your ears.
There comes a time in every hero’s journey when they must face their worst fear. I sought an office job, and the gods granted my wish. But this wish came with a cursed stipulation. My new employer cannot see how they have crushed my dreams of glory. Still, I must soldier on; I cannot keep myself alive whilst maintaining my dignity, and I cannot resist the call. If I want to keep this perfectly fine, well-paying job in administration, I must confront my worst enemy, my prophesized foe—the greatest of all evils.
I must write the department newsletter.
When I graduated, I swore to myself upon the grave of my degree that I would never fall into the clutches of marketing or editing. My peers each donated their youth to the beast, as they found work only in social media management and copywriting. Somehow, though, I evaded it. I had worked in libraries for years, narrowly avoiding the fate my peers undertook—by scanning returned books and answering reference questions.
The US-Australia Force Posture Agreement has opened the gate for the US to set up Australia as a launching pad for its next war against China. The Albanese government must invoke Article XXI to terminate it and reclaim sovereignty. When it comes to military activities or agreements between Australia and the United States, the ANZUS Continue reading »
State and territory first ministers are again pressing national cabinet to consider health care reform as its top priority at the first meeting for 2023. We have heard this song before. The first so-called national cabinet after the election of the Albanese government considered health care reform, and asked first secretaries to carry out a Continue reading »
Anthony Barnett explores what he sees as the global emergence of a radical, progressive politics – especially in the United States
The farce occurring in the US House of Representatives, where a small group of far-right Republicans are seeking to veto the overwhelming choice of their colleagues for the party’s congressional leadership, may well be resolved by the weekend in the traditional American parliamentary way, with bribes, deals, committee placements and stiff-arming. It is not the Continue reading »
Treasury’s December 2022 Population Statement has received more media attention than any of its previous statements. This is predominantly due to Treasurer Jim Chalmers promoting the statement extensively in contrast to his predecessor who largely treated these statements as business as usual. Chalmers is reported to have said “the news that Australia’s population would be Continue reading »
Anzac Parade in Canberra is Australia’s major ceremonial avenue, a grand boulevard commemorating (heroic) service and sacrifice. Yet at least one of its monuments represents war crimes, racism, torture and murder. Few nations are as strident about their military history as Australia. There is no more admired symbol in our national psyche than that of Continue reading »
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, does his best to show how he was no ornament of the British Army, one merely there to make up the numbers. During six helicopter missions in Afghanistan, he killed a number of Taliban fighters. Aided by “laptops” and precision, he was even certain about the Continue reading »
“If we don’t confront Christian nationalism then we are leaving ourselves open to future attacks, like what we saw on January 6,” said one critic. In an effort to fill in what they say are critical gaps in the U.S. House select committee’s report on the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, faith Continue reading »
Exclusive: American neocons helped destabilise Ukraine and engineer the overthrow of its elected government, a “regime change” on Russia’s western border. But the coup and the neo-Nazi militias at the forefront also reveal divisions within the Obama administration, reports Robert Parry. More than five years into his presidency, Barack Obama has failed to take full Continue reading »
Council Motion on Stopping Data Discrimination:Council Notes: – That UK GDPR, and the Data Protection Act 2018 protects individuals from harmful or discriminatory uses of their data. It does so by imposing a duty on organizations to use people’s data in a legal, transparent, and fair way. – That without GDPR students couldn’t stop unfair […]
Last Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning, sleepless souls around the nation suffered through the spectacle of sad-sack Kevin McCarthy finally capturing his Holy Grail, the speakership of the House of Representatives. It was a uniquely unedifying spectacle. By the end it became downright uncomfortable watching McCarthy ritually humiliated hour after hour by members of his own party before they finally deigned to give him the gavel he has so desperately coveted for so long. But then, this is a common practice among Republicans these days. Just look at the way former President Trump treated his own vice president, Mike Pence, a man who ostentatiously abased himself for four long years only to be thrown to a slavering mob (at least metaphorically) when he refused to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. Like McCarthy, Pence also keeps coming back for more, and apparently plans to launch an extremely quest for the presidential nomination in a party that holds him in total contempt. As Salon’s Amanda Marcotte writes on Monday morning, the Republican display over the past week was only a preview of what’s likely to come.
Luciano Floridi, currently Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford and Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Bologna, has accepted an offer from Yale University to become the founding director of its Digital Ethics Center and professor in its Cognitive Science Program. Professor Floridi is known for his work in philosophy of information, digital ethics, the ethics of artificial intelligence, and philosophy of technology, publishing several books and hundreds of articles on these topics, which you learn more about here. He has also consulted for Google, advised the European Commission on artificial intellligence, chaired a Parliamentary commission on technology ethics, to name just some of his non-academic work and service. Last year, he was awarded the highest honor the Italian government bestows, the Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.
Many members of the Conservative Party's lords bench seem to be taking indefinite strike action, Byline Times analysis suggests
Generais do Exército sonham reviver a ditadura militar, mas passarão à história como cúmplices do terrorismo golpista que destruiu a capital.
The post Ataques terroristas em Brasília têm culpados de sobra, mas são obra militar appeared first on The Intercept.
Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that 156 federally-funded family planning programs in Texas must...
Mars Attacks, 1962
This rollercoaster doesn't stop automatically
Last night, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court in Brasilia. Descending on the country’s capital, the far-right mob called for the resignation of the newly elected President, Lula Inacio da Silva, and for the intervention of the military to halt the peaceful and democratic transfer of […]