Human Flourishing
Anthony Grayling describes flourishing at Beyond Belief 2008, which is a better term than happiness to describe the ‘goal’ of human life. Flourishing is judged from the eye of the individual. By its very nature, it is best served by personal liberty and progressive social guidelines, not dogma or any other imposed orthodoxy.
“All the theses that have it that there is one great truth, everybody’s got to sign up to it. Otherwise {they} will be punished if they don’t…..they all tend to be very productive of unhappiness….”
The importance of understanding individuals’ talents and what makes them happy reminded me of Robert M. Price’s book “The Reason Driven Life“. I think it was around chapter 32 where Price discussed the difference between he and Rick Warren on the issue. Warren talks about everyone having their own unique ‘calling’, but if you read between the lines it’s all about being a good christian and doing what god wants you to do. I appreciated Price’s description of his personal conversion away from christianity. He did not feel “fully himself” because of the constraints imposed by the ideology in which he had been entrenched.
Please enjoy Beyond Belief 2008: Anthony Grayling on Human Flourishing
Nov 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
I read Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life(30 million in print now)some years ago. I enjoyed reading it but felt disappointed and distracted by its authoritarian basis. I wondered why no one had written a secular version.
Now I can’t wait to get my hands on “The Reason Driven Life“
Thanks for your post on twitter.
Nov 29th, 2008 at 8:28 am
No problem. Check out the Reason Driven Podcast too, it’s a podcast show based on Price’s book, and I like it a lot.