Chapter 5 Further Reading

Primary Sources

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (approx. 350 BCE) Books I, II, IX, and X are most relevant for this chapter. Book I introduces eudaimonia and the function argument. Book II covers the doctrine of virtue and habituation. Book IX (on friendship) is one of the most beautiful things in Western philosophy — Aristotle on the nature of genuine philia, why friendship matters to eudaimonia, and what it means to love someone for who they are. Book X returns to the question of the highest form of the good life. The Irwin translation (Hackett) is the most accessible; the Ross translation (Oxford) is more literal.

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrines The core texts of Epicurean philosophy, both short enough to read in an evening. The Letter to Menoeceus covers the good life, the four-fold cure, and the argument against fearing death. The Principal Doctrines are forty maxims that summarize Epicurean teaching. Both available free online through several academic repositories. Essential primary sources that are routinely underassigned.

Epicurus, Letter to Pythocles and fragments Secondary sources on Epicurus are useful (see below), but the fragments of his longer works give a sense of his range. Catherine Wilson's collection of Epicurean primary sources (The Epicurean Philosopher's Handbook) is a good compilation.

Accessible Secondary Works on the Ancient Accounts

Martha Nussbaum, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (1994) Nussbaum examines Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism as therapeutic philosophies — attempts to cure the soul of its pathologies. Her chapter on Epicurus is the best philosophical treatment of his account available. This book is demanding but enormously rewarding. Her later book Upheavals of Thought extends the analysis.

Catherine Wilson, How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well (2019) A recent, highly readable introduction to Epicurean philosophy by a leading scholar. Wilson argues that Epicureanism is far more relevant to contemporary life than most people recognize. A good companion to the primary texts.

Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life (1995) Hadot argues that ancient philosophy — Stoic, Epicurean, Platonist — was primarily a set of spiritual exercises for transforming how you live, not a theoretical enterprise. His account of what it meant to "do philosophy" in antiquity changes how you read all the ancient texts. This book is quietly one of the most influential philosophy books of the last fifty years.

Edith Hall, Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life (2018) Hall is a classicist who brings Aristotle's ethics to general readers. She covers eudaimonia, virtue, friendship, and practical wisdom with genuine enthusiasm and scholarly depth. The chapter on friendship is especially good.

Positive Psychology

Martin Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being (2011) Seligman introduces and defends the PERMA model. This is the clearest account of his mature view — previous books focused on happiness; this one argues that wellbeing is a broader concept. Readable and empirically grounded.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990) The original account of flow — what it is, how it works, how to cultivate it, and why it matters. One of the most influential psychology books of the twentieth century. The philosophical connections to Aristotle that the book implies but doesn't make explicit are worth drawing out for yourself.

Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996) Extends the flow research to creative work. Interviews with ninety-one exceptional creators in science, art, and business. The picture that emerges of what it feels like to be genuinely engaged with difficult creative work is philosophically illuminating.

On Meaning and the Happiness/Meaning Distinction

Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (1946) An indispensable book. The first section is Frankl's autobiographical account of surviving Auschwitz; the second is a summary of logotherapy, his therapeutic system based on the will to meaning. Short, accessible, and genuinely moving. The philosophical connections to both Aristotle and Epicurus are not made explicit in the text but are easy to trace.

Susan Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters (2010) A philosophical account of meaning distinct from both happiness and moral obligation. Wolf argues that meaningful activities involve active engagement with objectively worthwhile projects. Her "fitting fulfillment" view is a sophisticated alternative to purely subjective or purely objective accounts. Short and accessible.

Emily Esfahani Smith, The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed With Happiness (2017) Based on research across multiple disciplines, Smith argues that the pursuit of happiness has crowded out the pursuit of meaning, and that the resulting anxiety is a widespread cultural pathology. She draws on philosophy, psychology, and narrative to develop four "pillars of meaning." A readable synthesis.

Roy Baumeister et al., "Some Key Differences Between a Happy Life and a Meaningful Life" (2013) The original research paper. Available through most academic libraries and often accessible freely online. The empirical study that establishes the happiness/meaning distinction as a serious research finding rather than a philosophical intuition.

On Hedonic Adaptation and the Research on Wellbeing

Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth (2008) Diener has been the central figure in happiness research for thirty years. This book synthesizes the research accessibly. The chapter on the limits of hedonic adaptation is directly relevant to this chapter.

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) Kahneman's chapter on the distinction between the "experiencing self" and the "remembering self" is philosophically crucial. We don't just experience happiness — we also construct narratives about happiness. What makes us happy in the moment is often different from what we recall as making us happy, and both of those are different from what we predict will make us happy. These distinctions complicate simple hedonism in ways that connect to philosophical accounts.

Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky, How Much Is Enough?: Money and the Good Life (2012) An accessible economic and philosophical argument that modern societies have been misled about the relationship between wealth and wellbeing. The Skidelskys draw on both Aristotle and Keynes to argue for a conception of the good life that doesn't require continuous economic growth.

Podcasts and Accessible Media

"The Good Life Project" podcast — Hundreds of conversations with people who have thought seriously about what makes a life well-lived. More practically oriented than philosophically rigorous, but useful as a source of lived accounts.

"The Happiness Lab" podcast (Dr. Laurie Santos) — Yale professor's popular science podcast on happiness research. Good summaries of the hedonic adaptation and wellbeing research in accessible audio form.

Edith Hall, "Aristotle's Way" lecture series — Available on YouTube. Hall is an engaging speaker and makes Aristotle's ethics genuinely accessible.

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius — Strictly speaking this is Stoic, not Aristotelian or Epicurean, but the Letters are among the most readable ancient texts on how to live well. Many of the themes from this chapter — the relationship between external goods and the good life, the danger of false desires, the importance of living in accordance with your nature — appear here in a more personal voice than most ancient philosophy.