How to Live a Good Life

Group I

Ancient Philosophies from the East

Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism

Eastern philosophies particularly three of the most well known: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism tend to have a reputation in the West for being all about yoga and meditation. Although these are parts of what they are about, the essays by Owen Flanagan, Bryan Van Norden, and Robin R. Wang show that this conception is overly simplified, incomplete, and misleading. The risk of cherry-picking bits and pieces such as meditation or yoga without a fuller understanding of the underlying philosophy is that we end up with commercialized cults of the self, sacrificing credit cards and calories to the Yoga Fashion Gods Inc., which is a far cry from what the Buddha, Confucius, and Laozi teach. Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism are philosophies of life that present primarily practical guides for ethical behavior.

Buddhism is, by some estimates, currently the fourth largest religion in the world, after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, accounting for around 500 million people, or nearly 7 percent of the world s population.1 It is hard to say how many people follow Confucianism and Daoism, because when polls are done in Korea and China, for example, only a small percentage say they officially belong to the religion of Confucianism, but most conform to and enact a Confucian way of life. Confucianism is more a cultural and philosophical affiliation than a religious one, and the ideas and texts of Confucians continue to exert deep cultural influences on billions of people.

The popular practices of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism could have been included as religions in Group III, but we think they merit their own section, not only because they originated in Asia, but also because they do not worship deities in the same ways as more orthodox religious traditions (such as Hinduism). They often do make reference to deities or spiritual entities, and there are religious rites and temples

Introduction by Massimo Pigliucci, Skye C. Cleary, and Daniel Kaufman          

Group I: Ancient Philosophies from the East
1. Buddhism: Owen Flanagan (Duke University)    
2. Confucianism: Bryan W. Van Norden (Vassar College)          
3. Daoism: Robin R. Wang (Loyola Marymount University)     

Group II: Ancient Philosophies from the West      
4. Aristotelianism: Daniel A. Kaufman (Missouri State University)      
5. Stoicism: Massimo Pigliucci (City College of New York)      
6. Epicureanism: Hiram Crespo (Society of Friends of Epicurus)          

Group III: Religious Traditions  
7. Hinduism: Deepak Sarma (Case Western Reserve University)    
8. Judaism: Rabbi Barbara Block (Temple Israel, Springfield MO)      
9. Christianity: Alister McGrath (Oxford University)        
10. Progressive Islam: Adis Duderija (Griffith University, Australia)    
11. Ethical Culture: Anne Klaeysen (New York Society for Ethical Culture)          

Group IV: Modern Philosophies 
12. Existentialism: Skye C. Cleary (Columbia University and Barnard College)       
13. Pragmatism: John Kaag (University of Massachusetts Lowell) and Douglas
      Anderson (University of North Texas)
14. Effective Altruism: Kelsey Piper (Vox)   
15. Secular Humanism: John R. Shook (University of Buffalo) 

Conclusion 

MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI is currently the K.D. Irani professor of philosophy at the City College of New York. He has a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Tennessee. Pigliucci has been elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for fundamental studies of genotype by environmental interactions and for public defense of evolutionary biology from pseudoscientific attack." His work has been published in national and international outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Aeon, Philosophy Now,and The Philosophers' Magazine, among others. He is most recently the author of the bestselling How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life .

SKYE C. CLEARY, PhD, MBA, is a philosopher and author of Existentialism and Romantic Love  She teaches philosophy, leadership, and management at Columbia University, Barnard College, the City University of New York, and the New York Public Library. Skye authored the script for the TED-Ed animation "Why Do We Love? A Philosophical Inquiry," which has had over 2.2 million views. Skye is currently working on a second animation for TED-Ed about Simone de Beauvoir. Her work has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Philosophers' Magazine, HuffPost, Business Insider, and The New Republic.

DANIEL A. KAUFMAN, PhD, received his BA in philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his PhD in philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is professor of philosophy at Missouri State University.

"How to Live a Good Life is a fantastic book. I dare anyone not to do something differently in their daily life at least once after reading it. . . . It s a wonderful summary of the collected wisdom of humanity in a highly readable book of less than 300 pages. You can dip in and out of it when the mood takes you. Also, it s written by scholars, so while these are obviously summaries, none offer glib advice on how [insert philosophy] can change your life, though I expect some of them maybe can. Sophie Roelle, "Best Nonfiction Books of 2020," Five Books.com

An anthology of philosophical and religious approaches to the question How ought I to live? may sound like heavy going, but the editors have chosen contributors who are able to present the views they favor in a style that is not only clear and informative, but in many cases, entertaining as well. This is an excellent introduction to the field of philosophies of life. Peter Singer, author of The Most Good You Can Do

Philosophy professors Pigliucci, Cleary, and Kaufman deliver on their goal of providing a glimpse of how the world looks through [the] respective lenses of 15 major philosophies in this anthology featuring an impressive array of contributors. . . . Readers interested in thinking more about their life-choices and options for change will be grateful for this practical guide to, as the authors write in their conclusion, the possibilities to learn from, ponder, and perhaps adopt.   Publishers Weekly

How to Live a Good Life is a fascinating and practical guide. I would happily lend you my copy, but it s too filled with underlinings and scribbles in the margins to be legible. A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

Philosophies and religions are sometimes more than just dogmas or points to be argued. They can also be daily practices which help you in the most difficult moments of your life. This book explores some of the greatest ethical paths humans have