Module overview
It seems clear that people’s lives can go well or badly. But what is it for one’s life to go well? Does it consist in feeling good more often than feeling bad? Or getting most of what you want? Or does it consist in achievement, friendship, knowledge and a variety of other disparate things? It is highly tempting to think that your happiness matters for how well your life goes. But this raises further questions: what is happiness? Can it be measured? Is it a sensible goal for public policy? This module aims to explore questions such as these.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the arguments for and against those theories.
- influential theories of happiness and wellbeing.
- the relevance of those theories for how we should live.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- take notes from talks and written materials.
- undertake, with adequate supervision, independent work, including identifying and using appropriate resources.
- work effectively to deadlines.
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- evaluate critically influential accounts of happiness and well-being.
- see connections between those accounts and issues in other areas of study, such as economics, sociology, law, education, and politics.
- articulate and defend your own views concerning the nature of happiness and wellbeing
- explore the implications of those accounts for how we should live and organise society.
Syllabus
The syllabus may vary from year to year. Topics may include:
- Whether your life goes well to the extent that you get what you want
- Whether your life can get worse without you being aware of that fact
- Whether happiness is a feeling
- Whether we can meaningfully compare your happiness and mine
- Whether and how happiness ought to be a moral and/or political goal
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- Lectures
- In-class discussion
- One-on-one consultation with module co-ordinator
Learning activities include
- Attending classes
- Contribution to class discussion
- Doing independent research for and writing assessed work
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Teaching | 33 |
Independent Study | 117 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
The Philosophy of Well-Being: An Introduction by Guy Fletcher (Routledge, 2016).
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being, by Guy Fletcher (Editor) (Routledge, 2015).
Internet Resources
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Essay proposal
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Written feedback will be provided. The opportunity to receive oral feedback from the module co-ordinator on any aspect of your performance during office hours or by appointment.
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
- Percentage contribution: 100%
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Essay | 75% |
Exam | 25% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Timed Assignment | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Essay | 75% |
Exam | 25% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External