Provides an intuitive definition of happiness and explores several fallacies concerning happiness in a way understandable to the general public
Combines interdisciplinary (economic, psychological, sociological, evolutionary biology, neuroscience) knowledge to promote happiness at the individual and social levels
Discusses openly controversial issues like brain stimulation of pleasure centers and the East Asian happiness gap.
Author(s): Yew-Kwang Ng
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Year: 2022
Language: English
City: Singapore
Preface
References
Contents
About the Author
1 What is Happiness? Why is Happiness Important?
1.1 What is Happiness?
1.2 Why is Happiness Important?
References
2 Happiness Versus Preference
References
3 Some Conceptual Mistakes About Happiness
3.1 Why Do We Have Happiness?
3.2 Common Mistakes About Happiness
References
4 Happiness or Life Satisfaction?
References
5 Happiness as the Only Intrinsic Value
5.1 Happiness as the Only Intrinsic Value
5.2 Answering Some Objections
5.3 Rejecting Kant’s Categorical Imperatives
5.4 A Critique of Rawls
References
6 Happiness Measurability and Interpersonal Comparability
6.1 Happiness is Cardinally Measurable and Interpersonally Comparable
6.2 How Could the Measurement of Happiness be Improved?
References
7 Does Money Buy Happiness?
References
8 Environmentally Responsible Happy Nation Index: A Proposed National Success Indicator
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Revising the Measurement of Happy Life Years
8.3 Towards an International Acceptable National Success Indicator
8.4 Estimating the Environmentally Responsible Happy Nation Index
8.5 Concluding Remarks
References
9 Age and Happiness
9.1 The U-shape Relation of Age and Happiness
9.2 The Delay in Sleep/wake Cycles of Teenagers: Ultimate Reason and Implications
9.3 Chapter Appendix. Methodology
References
10 Factors Affecting Happiness
10.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
10.2 The Four F’s of Happiness
10.3 Important Factors at the Social Level
References
11 How Do You Increase Your Happiness?
References
12 Stimulating Our Brains and Transforming Our Selves
12.1 Stimulating the Pleasure Centers in Our Brains
12.2 Genetic Engineering and Our Own Transformation
References
13 The East-Asian Happiness Gap: Causes and Implications
13.1 The East-Asian Happiness Gap
13.2 Some Reflections
13.2.1 Why Still the Rat-Race for Money?
13.2.2 The East Asian Happiness Gap: Its Causes
13.3 Some Implications
References
14 Implications for Public Policy
References
15 A Case for Higher Public Spending
15.1 Economists Overestimate the Costs of Public Spending
15.2 Specific Areas of Deficient Public Spending
15.3 Concluding Remarks
References
16 Animal Welfare: Beyond Human Happiness
References
Appendix A Resolving Some Moral Philosophical Controversies
Appendix B Happiness as the Only Intrinsic Value: Further Opposing Arguments Considered
Appendix C The Necessity of Cardinal Welfare for Rational Agents/Organisms
Appendix D A Problem in Happiness Measurement
Appendix E A Solution of the Moral Philosophical Problem of Optimal Population Size
References
