Population studies: Philosopher-author discusses the meaning of happiness in new book

Sissela Bok, senior visiting fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, was interviewed Aug.  23, 2010, on NPR’s Talk of the Nation about her new book, Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science. Understanding happiness, she tells host Andrea Seabrook, requires more than just feeling happy. “It’s the combination of happy experiences, and experiences… of great suffering that teaches us much more about how to lead our lives,” Bok said. Seabrook comments: “Bok weaves together poetry and contemplation, data and experience, ultimately calling on all of us to think clearly and with sensitivity about how we perceive happiness.”

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Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies