This collection of verse brings together poems of felicity, capturing what it means to be well in the fullest sense. Presented in 14 thematic sections, these works offer inspiring readings on wisdom, self-love, ecstasy, growth, righteousness, love and lust, inspiration, oneness with nature, hope, irreverence, awe, the delights of the senses, gratitude and compassion, relation to the sacred, justice, and unity. At times elegant, at others blunt, these poems reflect on what it means to live a rich, fulfilling life.
The Eudaimonic Turn is a collection of critical essays that, taken as a totality, represent a radical shift in focus and orientation. In the challenge to the hermeneutics of suspicion, the adoption of alternative reading strategies, and the complex investigation of well-being as it is configured in various texts, the collection is an analogue of a new discourse that has emerged, one that has immensely enriched literary studies in the last decade.
The Dynamic Individualism of William James analyzes James’s rich and complex thought through an examination of his individualism. A central theme of James’s writings, individualism underlies his basic views on freedom, society, government, psychology, education, religion, pragmatism, and metaphysics–yet, until now, no one has undertaken a careful study of this important aspect of James’s thought. With close readings of texts that include The Principles of Psychology, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and A Pluralistic Universe, James O. Pawelski engages the range of contexts in which James discusses individualism, offers a refreshingly new reading of his work, and, in seeking to resolve James’s own psychology, presents an original and convincing case for his dynamic individualism.
In recent decades there has been a shift in focus from psychological and social problems-what might be called the “dark side” of humanity-to human well-being and flourishing. The Positive Psychology movement, along with changes in attitudes toward organisational and societal health, has generated a surge of interest in human happiness.
The Oxford Handbook of Happiness is the definitive text for researchers and practitioners interested in human happiness. Its editors and chapter contributors are world leaders in the investigation of happiness across the fields of psychology, education, philosophy, social policy and economics.
James Pawelski 