This is the final paper from my professor. I will attach few more sources that I was working on this quarter later( including my reflection paper, so you can know the idea of those source. The title of my course comes from Socrates, who famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Each week we have been prompted to examine the idea of happiness. It’s a topic relevant to any human walking the planet, and as we have seen in the readings, it is worth reflecting on. Why? Well, in Aristotle’s words, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Isn’t it? It’s pretty damned important, and it would make a lot of sense to reflect on just what makes us happy and what obstacles stand in our way.<br>
The Dalai Lama has said, “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” I’ve asked you to listen to what others have said about happiness, too. You’ve also been prompted to think about your education, about what you want to get out of college and take with you into your life. How to seek not only your own well-being, but to contribute consciously and with compassion to the well-being of others.
This final term paper will grow out of everything you have written this quarter. It will most likely begin with a reflection on “This is Water” and develop into a deeper reflection that includes the voices and ideas from everything else we have examined this quarter. Foster Wallace’s speech ultimately is about mindfulness. It’s about paying attention, listening, and living a compassionate life that takes the needs and suffering of others into account when our tendency is to assume everything is all about us. What have you paid attention to this quarter? What will you be mindful of and take away with you from this class?
Write a three to five page paper outlining your own researched guide to happiness and how your college education can prepare you to think, to be mindful, to seek happiness and persist in a world that we know is often broken and cold. (direct quotations/use of course materials required)
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. ~ Max Ehrmann
TIP: Imagine David Foster Wallace was addressing your graduating class. You can shape your essay as a response to him. How can you show him you have thought about what he said and impress him by supporting your thesis with all the philosophers you have been studying?
Required Criteria for Final Term Paper
• 100 points (NO LATE PAPERS EXCEPTED)
• due Wednesday by 11 AM to my office, F61-f
• THREE-FIVE pages (double spaced OK) 12 pt font
• Essay structure with thesis and organized paragraphs
• Make use of the philosophers, lectures, and other readings through paraphrase and direct quotations NO OUTSIDE RESEARCH NECESSARY!!
• Proofread for punctuation and spelling (I will not read papers with spelling errors, and they will be returned with late penalties until you run the spell check and resubmit)
• include MLA works cited list
