Is happiness just an emotion? Emotions usually have two aspects: the feeling and the thought. There seems to be two kinds of happiness. One is transitory, the other is a long-term state. Ken introduces the guest, Robert Solomon, professor at University of Texas, Austin. Solomon thinks that all of the possibilities for happiness discussed are wrong. He says that Aristotle focused on long-term happiness. John distinguishes between subjective and objective happiness. Aristotle focused on the latter. Solomon talks about self-deception and happiness; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we're happy when we're not and we can be happy without realizing it.

幸福和美好的生活是一样的吗?所罗门认为这说明了很多。幸福可能只是美好生活的一部分。幸福的客观成分是否意味着它不会因文化而异?不同的文化有不同的标准来判断一个人是否幸福。如果一个人能对自己是否幸福产生错误的判断，那么似乎幸福是客观存在的。满足和幸福之间的关系是什么?两者是相互关联的还是相互排斥的?

Do we have the power to choose to be happy or unhappy? Solomon thinks we can choose to do anything, but can we choose to be one way or another? Are all kinds of happiness created equal? Some people are happy taking prozac while others are happy helping orphans. Solomon thinks this is misguided since happiness is not a single all encompassing concept. Solomon wants to emphasize how complex the notion of happiness is while most people think of it in a very simplistic way. There are two other notions that are important to happiness are self-actualization and joy. Self-actualization seems to support Aristotle's notion that happiness is the good life, reaching one's potentials. John points out that joy goes in and out of vogue as important for happiness.

• Roving Philosophical Report(Seek to 04:35): Amy Standen asks several people about what happiness is.

• Sixty Second Philosopher(Seek to 50:04): Ian Shoales gives a brief history of the philosophy of happiness.