Happiness, Wisdom, and Work

Alla Gaydukova, Rutgers University, Fall 2005

Assignment 1

Gilbert refers to happiness as “the thing that all human action is directed towards,” even as he argues that one cannot predict the emotional consequences in our drive toward achieving happiness (170). American culture also assumes that ‘the pursuit of happiness’ is one of our unalienable rights.

Is the assumption that the pursuit of happiness is fundamental to our lives valid? Is it simply an American way of thinking or can it be applied universally?

Your answer must use Gertner’s essay to support your own project. (do not simply summarize Gertner) You should also incorporate quotes in your essay and have proper citations.

Questions to ponder: ( You do not need to use these questions to answer the assignment. These are just a few questions to help you think about the reading.)

• What does ‘happiness’ mean to you?
• If fewer choices would make people happier –are dictatorships better alternatives for society?
• Would scientists in other counties raise the same questions as the psychologists discussed in the reading? If not, why would Americans be more interested in happiness than other nations?
• Can the study on happiness increase the quality of our lives?
• What are social and political implications of such studies?
• Why do you make decisions? Think about the last few you made and what drove you? What expectations did you have?

Assignment 2

In “Wisdom” Robert Thurman argues that the ideals of Buddhism, which are fundamentally different from the western emphasis on the individual self, can help us achieve our best potential. In “Futile Pursuit of Happiness” Gertner examines the work of psychologists who study our predictions of happiness.

How do the ideas in Gertner’s article confirm, complicate or contradict Thurman’s belief that it is possible to achieve happiness by transcending the concept of ‘self’? Would our society benefit if we could go beyond the ‘self’?

Your answer must use both Gertner’s and Thurman’s essays to support your own project. (do not simply compare and contrast Gertner and Thurman) You should also incorporate quotes in your essay and have proper citations. (MLA Style – see Easy Access p197)

In this paper I want to see that:

• you considered the ideas in both texts and put them into conversation with each other
• you have your own project that goes beyond the ideas in Thurman and Gertner
• you are choosing relevant quotations and examples, and you are explaining the connections between this evidence and your larger project (each paragraph should try to have quotes from both writers)
• you are proofreading your essay carefully for grammar and spelling errors

Assignment 3

How can the individuals in our society effectively overcome years of social indoctrination into ‘’master-servant relationship’ in the workplace without compromising their right to individual happiness? How are Greider’s reforms, based on collective happiness, possible in view of the ideas of Thurman and Gertner?

If you think that the individuals do not need to overcome years of social indoctrination you will need to explain in detail the reasons behind this conclusion. You must use all three texts to support your ideas.

Your answer must use Greider’s, Gertner’s and Thurman’s essays to support your own project. You do not need to pay the same amount of attention to all the three essays, but you should use and refer to all of them (at least once each) in your paper.

You should also incorporate quotes in your essay and have proper citations.

In this paper I want to see that:

• you considered the ideas in all three texts and put them into conversation with each other
• you have your own project that goes beyond the ideas in Greider, Thurman and Gertner
• you are choosing relevant quotations and examples, and you are explaining the connections between this evidence and your larger project
• you state your project and the way you will achieve it (road map) at the end of your introduction. (your project and road map can be a couple of sentences long)
• you are using effective topic sentences
• you are proofreading your essay carefully for grammar and spelling errors

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