From The Examined Life, a special issue on pursuing goodness without a payoff. Philosophy as an art of living: Costica Bradatan reviews Examined Lives: From Socrates to Nietzsche by James Miller; How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell; and The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hughes. From Being Human, evolved trait or evolutionarily useless spinoff? Dean Falk on the adaptive value of happiness; the highest good: Carol Ryff on pleasure versus purpose in determining happiness; negotiating with our future selves: Paul Bloom on how we trade off happiness today against tomorrow; and the non-pursuit of happiness: Daniel M. Haybron on how meaningful well-being comes from leading a better life. The art of living well: Rosalind Hursthouse reviews Intelligent Virtue by Julia Annas. Tyler Cowen on why he’s a happiness optimist but an economic pessimist. Susan Hassler on the pursuit of corporate happiness: Biometric sensors can gauge worker productivity but carry real risks as well. How should we live? Jonathan Glover tells us about some of those who've looked for answers, from Plato to Primo Levi. Douglas McDermid reviews Stoic Pragmatism by John Lachs.
