Erica Kaufman: Happiness

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Aberration: "the act of abridging or preventing something from being carried out thoroughly; alteration." When quoting Sir Francis Bacon, Gilbert used the word "aberration" along with "impediment" to describe the problem with the human understanding. Therefore, I figured that aberration would go along the line of changing one's perception, or preventing one from understanding something wholly. (Chi Nguyen)

admonition: " a cautious account. In this sentence admonition refers bogart's cautious advice that led Bergman to leave. This cautious advice helps to forward Gilbert's belief that we accept courageous acts faster than cowardice acts. Therefore, cautious advice doesn't leave us pondering on our decision like cowardice acts do." (Avinash Lauchman)

Alexithymia: is said to be a illness that is caused by the dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex; which hinders our ability to meditate our awareness and many things relating to our senses and even our inner states such as emotions. (karen Luo)

Ambiguity: According to Gilbert "the human mind tends to exploit ambiguity" (168). I believe that he is refering to how humans always doubt and try to look for different meanings and different answers. We always look for more evidence before believing something, basically i assume this relates to certantity. (Stephanie Betancourt)

Ambiguous: Gilbert page 172, "This object is inherently ambiguous, and you can prove this to yourself simply by staring at it for a few seconds." Here Gilbert is discussing a Necker cube and how when you stare at it, it constantly changes perspective. So ambiguous must be a term to describe situations that can be interpreted many different ways and have different meanings subject to the viewer. (Alexandra Villano)

Ameliorate: Gilbert page 205. To alleviate or make a situation better. "But just as explanations ameliorate the impact of unpleasant events, so too do they ameliorate the impact of pleasant events." Gilbert talks about the impact that an explanation can have regarding the associations that we make with smells, tastes, situations, etc.(David Lora)

Amenities: Amenities are things that make life easier and more comfortable. Aristotle states that "a man can conduct himself virtuously even from a modest competence". From this we can conclude that amenities are material possessions that we can live without and that we don't necessarily need to be happy. (Perla Alvarez)

Approbation: According to the sentence "...it will not receive your approbation..." (121), approbation means approval or in agreement with a person. Plato remarks that he does not approve of people who dislike those who give good advice and then states that such people will not receive approbation which can then only mean approval. (Jessica Wu)

Aquiver: This word was used in Kate Chopin's, "The Story of an Hour". She says, "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life" (p. 72). From this I can conclude that aquiver is another word for shaking or moving. (Perla Alvarez)

Assailant: Assailant could mean attacker. The way it is used seem to be a person who will "rally and attack him" (pg 116). (Crystal Ang)

Atemporal:"but not when they are doing it. In general, mental images are atemporal." (Gilbert, 148) In philosophy, temportality means talking about time. With the prefix a-, it means without. Im guessing atemporal means not knowing when things occur. (Janelle Franco)

Atrocities: I assumed that this word had to do with being mean or brutal even cruel. In Aristotle's reading he says " a far greater difference than it makes in a tragedy whether the crimes and atrocities are committed before hand or carried out during the actions..." (85). I think that what he is trying to say is that peoples bodies were brutally abused or hurt alive or dead. That scares me a little i dont understand how people were able to act so cruel and still attack dead bodies, in my opinion very disgusting. (Matan Shoshani)

Auxiliaries: Auxiliaries are groups of guards, polices, or confidants that protect the ruler of a certain country, city, or state. In the Republic, Plato indicated that the auxiliaries are "like sheep-dogs" who are "subject to the rulers." Therefore I concluded that auxiliaries are the people who guard and protect the highest class of a city. (Chi Nguyen)

Avocado: Avocado is a fruit. So what is it doing in a sentence like this: "It is only when your brain predicts badly that you suddenly feel avocado." (Gilbert, pg.7) The appearance of the word avocado gives an element of suprise. Gilbert explains that due to "nexting", we would conclude that the feeling would be of either sadness or unhappiness. We didn't expect that the sentence would end in avocado. This goes to show that Gilbert is one of the writers who likes to keep his readers interested and entertained at the same time. (Nikita Singh)

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Bereaved: "But the fact is that while most bereaved people are quite sad for a while..." (Gilbert 166). From this sentence and the one before it, I believe bereaved means someone who had experienced trauma or lost someone to death. The quote above indicate that a person is sad because something tragic had happen to them and most of the time the most tragic thing that can happen is death of a loved one. The sentence before the quote also helped make my definition because it talks about the sadness in the loss of a parent or spouse. (Jessica Wu)

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Chameleon: something or someone that is switching, constantly changing, turning in their fortunes or ideas; the act of being wiped away In Book One of Aristotle's thoughts on happiness, he talks about the impossibility of being constantly happy because fortune continues to change its course on a man's life. He called the man a "chameleon" and "a castle set on sand," therefore I interpreted the meaning of the word as changing and being wiped away. I also came to this understanding because Aristotle uses words like "changes," "turns," and "wheel." (Chi Nguyen)

Chameleon: "... representing the happy man as a sort of 'chameleon; a castle set on sand.'" (Aristotle 83) The idea behind comparing a happy person to a chameleon is related to the concept of change. A chameleon's physical appearance is frequently transforming thereby allowing it to adjust to its surroundings. Similarly, a man's fortune is always changing. As mentioned in Aristotle's ETHICS, man faces good fortune as well as bad fortune, which makes it impossible to remain happy indefinitely. This leads to the second half of the phrase, "a castle set on sand". Since man does encounter misfortunes, we can make the comparison of man's happiness to a sand castle that also has no sense of permanence. Therefore, both the chameleon and the sand castle depict the uncertainty of man's happiness. (Vadwattie (Vanita) Chaitu)

Chastisement: Punishment, can be used in order to deter others from an action, especially in politics and government (Vito Interrante)

Concupiscent:This word was brought up several times, It was first used on page 137 Plato's Book Four. It was used along with the words desires, loves, hungers, thirst, indulgences, and pleasures. The concupiscent principle as it described it "the ally of sundry indulgences and pleasures" and from that I inferred that concupiscent means something that is in a way sexy and something we long we kind of like an addiction to the things that make us feel good. (Ada Deng)

Conducive: to bring to a result. Aristotle says "So these amusements are thought to be conducive to happiness, because men in position of power devote their leisure to them." These "amusements" are the entertainment provided by the "courts of tyrants" which would bring about happiness. This happiness is achieved because people have the time and money to enjoy the entertainment. However Aristotle says that happiness does not include in amusement (pg 327) and therefore this entertainment can not be considered as happiness. (Crystal Ang)

Congenial: This is used when Plato refers to the nature of soldiers. When looking at the roots of the word I see "con" which means "with" and "genial" which reminds me of adjectives like generous, genuine, and gentle. This leds me to believe that congenial is an adjective and that it is used to talk about someone who handles things with graciousness. (Rukmani Nayyar)

Contemplation: "Happiness is a form of contemplation..." (Aristotle 334) The exact meaning of this line is not hard to extract. Aristotle seems merely to be implying that the emotion of happiness is simply another form of thought. Perhaps the difficulty, at least for me, comes in trying to understand why he would chose to define "happiness" in such a way. Of course, he offers an explanation, and that is what I find of interest. This line infers that intellect and happiness are somewhat synonymous, a concept perhaps not popular among other beliefs. (Alyson Bonura)

Contemplation: the act of reflecting upon things such as good values. According to Aristotle, “contemplation is both the highest form of activity, and also it is the most continuous…” (Page 328). As a result of its continuity, completion and self sufficiency, contemplation is considered to be the highest form of moral activity. (Farzana Ghanie)

Contemplation: “happiness is a form of contemplation”(334). This phrase seemed interesting to me because I always believed that happiness is an emotion, a positive feeling that can be felt anytime and anywhere. However, the writer states that God’s activities are supremely happy and human activities that are similar to God’s planning will be the happiest. Hence, happiness can be anticipated if ones planning is akin with God’s planning.(Karishma Bachani)

Content: "content if the combination"(336). Including or by means of being signficance. For happiness, goodness should be vaild. (Rohit Sharma)

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Debars: "For the same reason no child is happy either, because its age debars it as yet from such activities."(Aristotle 81) Used to signify exclusion from something. To be restricted from a group or from an action. Not having the ability to do something. Aristotle explains in his writing that a child can not be happy, because it is too young to do some activities which bring happiness, so it is excluded. (Paul Spyropoulos)

Debauchery: I assume this word is something bad. "and assures them that till they give up their drunkenness, gluttony, and debauchery, and laziness, no drugs, or any thing of the kind will do them any good?" (Plato 120) The words drunkeness, gluttony, and laziness is a sin. Therefore I assume that debauchery is also a sin. Drunkenness, gluttony, and laziness is also acts that takes our focus off something that is important. I think debauchery is when you take your focus off something that is important or something you have to do. (Jeong Yoon (Brandon) Ryu)

Descendants: "The notion that the dead are not affected at all by the fortunes of their descendants" (aristotle xi.) Aristotle speaks of happiness as a man who is forever happy. only then will it become known as happiness. however, to gain happiness one must receives all the fortunes and virtue of the world, when no misfortune is to ever fall upon the man. The only way for a man to never receive misfortune is when he is dead. A man who dies happy could be known as achieving happiness, but the mourning and sadness of the descendants should be a misfortune to the dead man. So can a man ever achieve happiness? (Karen Luo)

Dexterity: I assume that this word refers to knowledge or wisdom. In Aristotle's reading he says: " and this is why those who show some dexterity in them are highly esteemed at the courts of the tyrants..." According to this, i believe that those individuals who possess knowledge or wisdom are treated better, well respected and taken seriously. (Stephanie Betancourt)

Diapason: When Plato discusses the State, and its temperance he states that unlike courage and wisdom which can be possessed by some members of the State but not all in order to make the State courageous and wise, temperance differs because it must be possessed throughout the State. When I read “diapason” I thought of the word “diaspora” and since it was preceded a few words earlier by “spread”, I thought they had similar meanings. A “diaspora” is the spreading of immigrants, usually Jewish. A “diapason” is actually a burst of sound. In the context of Republic, this makes sense because he mentions that temperance resembles “a kind of harmony”. (Jessica McWilliams)

Disambiguate Gilbert uses this term in part V to describe how we differentiate between the different stimuli for different occasions. By this use of the word disambiguate, Gilbert means to make less ambiguous and narrow down the stimulus of a particular situation. (Jeffrey Chiu)

Dispensation: A gift, prize or act of courtesy. Aristotle begun his paragraph by questioning how is happiness obtained. He wrote "Is happiness something that can be learnt, or acquired by habituation, or cultivated in some other way, or does it come to us be a sort of divine dispensation, or even by chance?"(Aristotle 80) Since the word dispensation has the word dispense in it and in the sentence he put divine dispensation I assumed that it had to be something come out of or being given up by something divine. (David Lora)

Dispensation: To dispense or distribute. Aristotle describes how nature is beyond human control and uses this world to exemplify that it is distributed from a divine power. Those who get to experience it are "truly fortunate." (Jeffrey Chiu)

Diminutive A small, or at least seemingly small, unimportant state. From Gilbert p. 198 "may have a destructive potential that belies their diminutive size. (Miro Velikov)

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Engendered: The word is on Pg 137. The word seems to be derived from the word gender. But the manner in which it is used in the sentence, it means to create or develop. ( Aditi Rana)

Elixir of Life: When reading this phrase in “The Story of an Hour” it brings to mind someone drinking a potion that will aide them in living forever. However, in the context of this story it has a much different meaning. The “elixir” that Louise is “drinking”, is not physical and is not literally being imbibed. She is tasting freedom for the first time. She has been granted the opportunity to do this because of her husband’s alleged death. Now that she believes he no longer is capable of controlling her, she is finally able to live for herself. Thus, “drinking in a very elixir of life.”(Jessica McWilliams)

Elsewhen: Presumably made up by Daniel Gilbert in his book "Stumbling on Happiness". Used to signify another time whether it is in the future or in the past. To reminisce about another place as described in the title of his first chapter "Journey to Elswhen" which talks about contemplating about the future with your mind. Gilbert likes to make up his own, which brings a certain characteristic to words in his writing. (Paul Spyropoulos)

Encomium: A particular praise for certain accomplishments. (Vincent Chin)

Encomia: When I first read the word encomia, it sounded like a scientific term. But according to the paragraph on page 87, I believe that "encomia" is another word for "praises". I came to this conclusion because the entire section is about whether happiness should be praised or valued. For example, people praise heroes and Gods because they have done great things. But happiness is not a person or an object, it is a feeling or an emotion that may be considered a "good" in one's life and should be valued as for happiness is a precious feeling.

Encomia: "However, the detailed examination of his subject is presumably more appropriate for those who have made a special study of encomia" (Aristotle 87). I'm guessing since "happiness is made for its' sake", encomia is another word for glorify??? Aristotle may be implying that happiness are all things that makes us superior to other people. We want to feel special so if, for example, my happiness is achieved by getting a private jet, I'm only happy because obtaining a jet means that I'm privileged, hence people would envy me. (Janelle Franco)

Endeavour: "...it is not enough to know about goodness; we must endeavour to possess and use it, or adopt any other means to become good ourselves." (Aristotle 335)I have never before come across this word, but using the context clues in the remaining of the sentence, I was able to decode its meaning. Endeavour is some type of dedicated attempt to attain a certain outcome. Its a type goal that is dearly wanted. Although it is not the actual goal, it is more like the process and dedicated effort to attain this goal.(Maria Londono)

Encomia: Praise or a point where one has achieved something valuable and is praise worthy. (Aditi Rana)

External Goods: I think external goods could be materialistic things that can be bought for pleasure or satisfaction. The line, "...who is adequately furnished with external goods..."(84) led me to that definition because to furnish means to apply or equip something. In addition, the line,"...the body too must be healthy, and food and amenities must be available" can suggest that external goods can be food and other things to provide comfort or satisfaction. According to Aristotle, a happy man must have enough materialistic things in order to be happy in the line, "one cannot be happy without external goods". Aristotle believes that having objects or possessions are very important to being happy and happy people are good people. (Lori Chen)

Extravert: I assume that this word describes a person who is outgoing and not shy. Gilbert says that in a study, people who are extravert are more likely to earn a higher salary than those who are introvert, which means the exact opposite (187). I believe this to be true since being an extravert probably implies leadership qualities. Introverts who are successful usually don't work in the same fields as extraverts because both have different ways in approaching a situation. (Vincent Chin)

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Forestall: The word is used as an adjective in the sentence. "He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message. " From my knowledge, I thought the word was suppose to mean to prohibit or obstruct, so I guess this means trying to prevent giving Mrs Mallard the news. But the word is used very awkwardly in the sentence.

Faculty: An entity from which operations are performed. Plato questions whether or not a state should be goverened with one predominant faculty, or ruling power, or many different faculties that each perform different duties that work together as a whole. (Vito Interrante)

Fallible Something that is likely mistaken. Its meaning is not clearly preceived. Something that is Fallible lacks accuracy, or can be considered as being false.(Maria Londono)

Felicitous: A state of pleasant feelings or having good fortune. (Ada Deng)

Felicitous: On the other hand many great strokes of fortune, if favourable, will make life more felicitous...I think this word is a synonym for the word happy. The way the sentence is written by Aristotle "felicitous" makes me think of feeling happy. The sentence implies that when you strike rich, your life takes turn for the good. Sometimes when a person gains wealth that they never had, they see, very happy. So to say simply, felicitous means happy. (Nikita Singh)

Felicitous: optimistically happy. Regular good fortune not only makes the receiver's life more enjoyable but gives him a more optimistic outlook for the future. (Marc)

Felicitous: "Little pieces of good luck (and likewise of the opposite kind) clearly do not disturb the tenor of our life. On the other hand many great strokes of fortune, if favourable, will make life more felicitous (since they tend naturally of themselves to add to its attractions, and also they can be used in a fine and responsible way:..." The word felicitous is a word that I have never come across before, but to me looks like a word that is a positive adjective. The way felicitous is used in the paragraph, it is surrounded by other positive words like fortune and favourable which seems to cause a parallel in meaning to me. Felicitous seems like a word that describes enjoyment and pleasure, something that has a positive meaning to it. (John Trotta)

Forestall: Chopin, page 72. My first reaction was confused; my knowledge of forestall gives the meaning "to prevent" or something along those lines but in this context it means something more along the lines of, "to quickly find something or someone". Although it still sounds awkward. (Marc)

Foursquare without Reproach: is very interesting me because this phrase is not related to any math as you see the word ‘foursquare’, it means ingenuous. In my own word I think this phrase means that a man has behaved morally and virtuously throughout his or her life with the conscience which makes he or she becoming blameless person. (Sze Nga Yip)

Free: "Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin 31) This is what Mrs. Mallard whispers when she is alone in the room sitting in an armchair. But why does she say this, knowing that her husband has passed away? As readers we can infer that Mrs. Mallard was probably unhappy with her marriage. This can be concluded by looking at the time period in which this story was written in. If your a history person then you would know that the time that "THE STORY OF AN HOUR" was written in was referred to as the Victorian Era. In the Victorian Era women's rights were repressed severely. A women could not vote or own land; she was subjected to the will of her husband. Her duties were to take care of the house, rear children and, take care of the needs of her husband. Therefore it is likely that Mrs. Mallard was unhappy due to having no freedom. But when she heard of the news of Mr. Mallard's death she was in grief but then "looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination" (Chopin 73). Mrs. Mallard recognized "this possession of self-assertion...as the strongest impulse of her being" (Chopin 73). She can live her life according to her own will and no longer be restrained by her husband. Mrs. Mallard is able to feel this freedom until it is taken away from her upon the appearance of her husband. While she should be happy that he is alive, instead, Mrs. Mallard dies from "joy that kills" (Chopin 74). (Nikita Singh)

Fulcrum: "...allows us to live at the fulcrum of stark reality and comforting illusion."(Gilbert) I think that fulcrum means a state, like a peak of stark reality; or a type of support that guides us in stark reality and illusion. (Shamima Akter)

Feeling: "..., but all forms of feeling that occupy different points on a scale of happiness." (Gibert 35) Why sometimes when we "feel" the happiness while others may feel the "sadness"? In everyone's mind, there's a scale of happiness; everyone view and judge happiness differetly. Although, the happening might be exactly the same, the outcome, the feeling, turns out to be extremely varied. (Stephanie Cheng)

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Garrison: Plato pg.113 Plato includes the word "garrison" in a sentence which also includes "mercenary troops" and "duties." Therefore we can assume that the word is related to the military. He also mentions that the troops were posted in the city which suggests some form of position or fort. (David Lora)

Goodness: “...Happiness demands not only complete goodness but a complete life"(81). This quote can be expressed that people cannot be truly happy unless they do good things and end their lives happy. Aristotle points out that some of us define happiness as a kind of activity because we have to participate in life to reward ourselves with that fuzzy, satisfied feeling. This does not mean that whatever we do amounts to happiness. Aristotle also points out that it is only good deeds that can determine our happiness while performing bad deeds will have the opposite effect. (Jessica Wu)

Goodness: “Some thinkers hold that it is by nature that people become good,others that it is by habit,and others that it is by instruction.” (Aristotle 336) This quote is interesting because it explains that we either make ourselves turn good,becoming good can be second nature or we were taught to become good.This is true for anyone who became good,by habit or instruction.I can relate to this because I was raised by my parents to become good,which made myself to become good and then I made it a habit.Seeing a person playing guitar on the subway for money or donation collections for Haiti are things that makes me feel bad and when I see such things like that,I want to do good and give back to the community. (Anthony Situmeang)

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Happiness: "…happiness is one of those things that are precious and perfect…we hold that the first principle and cause of what is good is precious and divine” (87). Happiness is something, a goal, that we want to achieve. Plus, it is something seems to be perfect. While we are standing at this point and viewing forward to our future, we often (or always?) put ourselves in a certain level of pressure that can become a motivation for leading us to a “perfect” future, in the other word, “happiness”. Therefore, happiness can also be defined or explained as well as gaining the happiness in present us while we are achieving, and receiving the happiness in future us after an achievement. Happiness is the principle of motivation for heading us to a better off. (Ju-Chun (Stephanie) Cheng)

Happiness through Entire Life: Just like we can not judge a painting from a half-finished canvess,we can not attain happiness outside it’s entirety. (Mitchell J. Levine)

Happy man: “one who is active in accordance with complete virtue, and who is adequately furnished with external goods, and that not for some unspecified period but throughout a complete life” also “destined both to live in this way and to die accordingly” (84). I think it’s saying a happy man is one who follows a belief, surrounds himself with good people, and stays true to both until the end. (Alice Chen)

Human Happiness: I think human happiness is the standard definition for any kind of happiness. Since according to Aristotle animals are not happy that must mean that happiness can only be defined by the human standard. However, it seems that there is some other type of happiness because if there wasn't then we wouldn't need to call it human happiness.It could have just been happiness. May be there is some level of happiness that us human don't understand just yet. (Amina Khan)

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Idiosyncratic (p.195, Gilbert) "Similarly, volunteers in this study found it easier to blame thie rejection on an idiosyncratic judge than on a panel of jurors, which is why they felt worse when they were rejected by a jury." In context the word is used as a kind of negative way to describe a person, so i am pretty sure it is not a compliment. Gilbert uses this word as a description of personality. It seems that it could mean something that is unjustified or strange within a person's personality. (Yaron Silberman)

Illumination: (literature p.73)"... as she looked upon it in that breif moment of illumination." The woman was looking towards the future. She was suddenly excited and the future seemed bright. Similar to the word illuminating; or lighting up.

"illusions of foresight."(p.25,Stumbling on Happiness) Human brains have the power to imagine boundlessly.Even if it might not be possible in future,we want to experience joy by imagining it. Although temporary,we seek pleasure through fantasies. (Karishma Bachani)

Imaginary Tomorrows: Gilbert writes that "We like to frolic in the best of all imaginary tomorrows." I believe he means that we like to fantasize and/or imagine what the future holds for us. We get a happy feeling when we look at old photographs because we reminisce on the past. If we enjoy this trip down memory lane we can also enjoy a trip to "Imagination Avenue." Though the future might be very different than we expect, it also fills us with hope. (Flor Maldonado)

Impact"Anticipating unpleasant events can minimize their impact."(p.20,Gilbert) This is true,I believe so and think that many of us can agree with Gilbert as well.Being prepared for the unexpected is crucial,if you're not ready for unpleasant events then the impact is much greater.For example,NYC Board Of Ed already closed public schools for tommorrow.Why? To minimize the impact of the possible snow dangers for students that the NYC Board Of Ed are anticipating.(Anthony Situmeang)

'Impaneling (p. 120, Plato) sp: "impanelling" This is to refer to unsavory and wrong actions between "individuals in the market." The "impanelling of jurors" is to take them off the panel, meaning to make them not honest and bribe/buy them, in any way that will make them impartial.

Impudence: When I think of impudence, the word insolent comes to mind. The text also implies that it means something negative. In that context impudence means being misbehaved, rude, and shameless. (Shamima Akter)

Incumbent. (page 121, Plato) "For my part, therefore, I should not have thougt it incumbent upon the genuine legislator to trouble himself with these branches of law and governemtn, wheher his state be ill or well organized..." incumbent means: One who holds a public office. By virtue of their experience in office, their exposure to the public, and their ability to raise campaign funds, incumbents usually have a significant advantage over opponents if they choose to run for reelection. (Shoshani, Matan)

Indelible: (p.125, Plato) This word drew my attention when i first saw it. I read the sentence a few times to try and grasp the meaning of this word. From my understanding, i believe this word means something along the lines of something being permanent or unable to be removed. "Its colour is indelible, and no washing either with or without soap can rob it of its brilliancy." (Silberman Yaron)

Injunction Plato pg. 117 In this page, the conversation going on suggests enforcing new laws in the city. Therefore, when Plato writes "we shall lay this additional injunction upon our guardians, to take every precaution..." we can assume that the word implies forcing the guardians to take action. (Astrid Cuas)

Intention: "A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime..." (Chopin 73) An intention is what someone means to do, when doing something. Ideally, a good intention would bring happiness to others. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It could be the case that a good intention would lead to an unhappy outcome, depending on the reaction of each person. (Timothy Boros)

Intellect: “best and most pleasant life is the life of the intellect, since the intellect is in the fullest sense of man. So this life will also be the happiest”. (Page 331) This statement is not necessary saying that you have to be intelligent to be happy. Of course you could be happy without having so much intelligence. However, this statement is stating that if you have intelligence you are more likely to be happy. Intellect will offer you a more pleasant life and pleasant life leads to a happier life. Intellect = pleasant life = happiness. (Jeong Yoon (Brandon) Ryu)

Innovation: Something new but negatively so. "the former produces luxury and idleness and innovation, and the latter meanness and bad workmanship as well as innovation." (115) Innovation is used with negative connotations throughout the writing. (Marc Liu)

Introspective awareness: (p. 68, Gilbert) Seeing the reflection of your own thoughts. Gilbert talks about the lack of awareness of your emotional state. "They seem to have feelings, they just don't seem to know about them." (Alice Chen)

Imploring:Kate Chopin wrote "Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. Louise open the door! I beg, open the door..." Imploring then means trying to convince someone to do something, to beg for something. (Katarzyna(Kate) Podwysocka)

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Jovial- When I think of jovial, I think of jolly goodness with a happy ambiance. Plato used jovial as an adjective to describe a simile that was explaining public happiness and prosperity. (John Trotta)

Joy-"When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills."(Literature-A Pocket Anthology)Just like her in this story,if I were in that position I would feel so down of feeling short of something I couldn't obtain.She was going through a lot and almost had a chance to recover her life but couldn't get it and fell short of joy.If we get that joy,it makes us happy ,if we don't,it hurts.

Joy that kills- Number one thing that most people fear is death. When people think of death, people tend to think of something horrible and painful. However, too much joy could kill you as well. This woman just lost her husband and she is joyful that she now is free. That joy was so great that she died of heart attack. This shows how bad the lives of women were like during 1894 and how badly they were treated by their husbands. (Jeong Yoon (Brandon) Ryu)

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[edit] L

licentiousness: This word might mean describe someone who does not follow the rules or what is right because it is used to describe the opposite of justice. This word is the opposite of justice because Plato uses it in the lines, "...confusion and bewilderment of the aforesaid principles...constitute injustice and licentiousness and cowardice and folly and, in once word, all vice."(143) In addition, the word is found in the paragraph about injustice and bad conduct. (Lori Chen)

Lexical: "...these words are the lexical equivalent of a Necker cube" (174) Pertaining to words or vocabulary. In Gilbert's terms, when he says the lexical equivalent, he means the "word" equivalent. To to describe something in terms of words. (Paul Spyropoulos)

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Master of himself: This phrase became of particular interest to me as I interpreted it as a sort of self-control over your bad side. It is said in the Republic that there is a good principle and a bad principle. The expression "master of himself" is applied when a man's good principle naturally overcomes the bad(Plato, 126-127). If the bad principle overcomes the good principle by improper training or bad influence, then the man will be described as a slave of himself. In a way, the phrase can point out two opposite meanings. (Vincent Chin)

Maladies: A type of disease or disorder of some sort. Plato uses this word in describing how doctors only complicate "maladies" instead of just curing them. Page 425c-426b (Jeffrey Chiu)

Maxim: an ideal or phrase that is used by a person that governs his actions. It's a phrase that you live your life by. (Yaron Silberman)

Methaphorical boat I believe Daniel Gilbert is taking about a make believe boat that in a way symbolizes dreams and the path of life. (karen Luo)

Misfortune: Aristotle used the word to describe an event that may alter the happiness of a mans life. (Rey Perez)

"More painful in prospect and more rosy in retrospect...": This quote comes from Daniel Gilbert. What he means by this is that as one is waiting for something to happen, this "something" is more dreadful than after it happens. When looking back on this "something", it is often seen as rather great.

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Necker Cube: A cube that Daniel Gilbert uses in order to prove a point regarding the connection between our mind's tendencies and pleasure. If there are two equally significant ways in which we can look at something, our mind will switch back and forth between them. However, if we are rewarded for thinking about it in one way, our minds will continue to think of it in that way without switching to the other. (Vito Interrante)

Nihilism: A belief or philosophy where people deny facts and standards that is the norm for society. (Lori Chen)

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Obfuscate: "it does us no good to obfuscate a discussion[...]" (Gilbert 39) To obfuscate something is to cloud and block something. It reminds me of the word obstruct, and is probably a fancier way of saying to obstruct further discussion (Hao Diep)

Obfuscate: According to Gilbert, "it does us no good to obfuscate a discussion by calling both the cause and the consequence by the same name" (39). The word obfuscate in this context probably means to confuse, because when we give two different things (cause and consequence in this case) the same name we confuse ourselves. (Farzana Ghanie).

Optimisim not important in cancer patients-Is there no Santa Claus either? (Mitchell J. Levine)

Outlandish: "... seem frankly outlandish to those of us who are merely imagining those events" (Gilbert 167). This term is used to describe the reaction to who believe their suffering has brought them some sort of happiness. Clearly, a majority of us who have yet to experience any of the misfortunes that Gilbert describes would find this impossible. Therefore, it makes sense that the term "outlandish" would mean absurd or highly unlikely. Prior to this, Gilbert quotes cases of those who have found a silver lining to their suffering. He goes on to to talk about the misconception of psychologists about the trauma of grief. From this, we can conclude that our reaction to their happiness is "outlandish" or highly unlikely. (Vadwattie (Vanita) Chaitu)

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Psychological Immune System: Daniel Gilbert mentions this phrase in Part Five of Stumbling on Happiness. According to Gilbert, the pschological immnune system is a defense mechanism that is triggered when in inescapable, irrevocable, and inevitable situations. In such situations, one puts the blame on the other and generates positive views. (Karishma Bachani)

Paradise Glossed: Daniel Gilbert uses this phrase as a title for Part Five. I think what he is implying is that we make things out to be better than they really are. When you gloss something you're making it look shiny, usually better than it had previously looked. Also, to gloss something is to make it better only superficially, and just because it looks better does not necessarily mean it is better. So in our minds, we are "glossing" things, making them appear to be better. (Jessica McWilliams)

Paradox: When you see the word "paradox" you can assume that there is a contradiction being made. For example, Aristotle says, "And if we are bound to lay down this rule, is a man really happy after he is dead? Surely this is an utter paradox, especially for us who define happiness as a kind of activity." This is clearly a contradictory statement because it is not logical to think that a dead man can feel happiness or sadness. (Alexandra Villano)

Pathology: Gilbert uses pathology in relation to the word trauma, giving the feeling that it could have to do with a disorder due to trauma.(John Trotta)

Play: "Play to work harder...."(Aristotle 327) This quote interests me because I feel that it is entirely true that if you want to play, you need to work harder for that entertainment. Aristotle says that people need amusement because it is a form of relaxation. People cannot work on and on without a little form of relaxation. A person can create a happy life that has the serious work side of it and then of course the best part is that you can amuse yourself in any form. I also feel that the opposite of this quote is true in that there are happy people that work in order to play harder at the end of the day. (Brian Gutman)

"pernicious"- "relinquish a pernicious course of life"(120). Pernicious is a bad or horrible state. As Plato describes a person who cannot get rid of a bad life. Once you live a horrible life it is unrepairable is harm is done. They will always live a sick and sad life.(avinash lauchman)

Potter: I think the word potter is something similar to or another name for a trader. At first the name sounded like someone who makes pots and other stuff. "Thus: do you think that a potter after he has grown rich will will care to attend to his trade any longer"(Plato 115). This quote suggests that a potter has a very close connection with the profession of a tradesman.(Amina Khan)

Predicament: "Upon my word, said I, we are in a most foolish predicament" (Plato 128) The word predicament means to be in a certain situation, which isn't always to be pleasant in. Seeing this word to me meant that Adeimantus and Socrates were in an absurd situation, whom neither wanted to be part of. (Brian Gutman)

Pernicious: Plato, in his political theories, alludes to those who participate in such self-destructive behavior that will ultimately ,cause death. The epitome of irony, however is that theese are some of the greatest optimists,always mindful of the future,and hoping for a cure. (Mitchell J. Levine)

Pernicious: Plato states that there are people who are "in bad health" who "cannot make up their minds to relinquish a pernicious course of life". (Plato, p.120). From the context I can conclude that pernicious is something that is deadly or harmful. These people don't want to leave their dangerous lives behind even though it can make their condition worse and potentially kill them. (Perla Alvarez)

Prophylaxis: In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud discusses cleanliness and order as parts of civilization. Upon the mention of cleanliness he talks about hygiene. During the discussion of hygiene he says “scientific prophylaxis” which at the time, I could not identify what he was talking about. Prophylaxis is the action of preventing a disease. He was stating how forms of hygiene were required of people in civilizations long before the relation to preventing diseases through hygiene was apparent. (Jessica McWilliams)

Prospectiscope: I think this is might be a made up word by Daniel Gilbert. However, from the context of this word, it appears to mean the lens through which an individual views the expected future. More or less a projection of what is to come in the given individual's life. (Alyson Bonura)

Prudence: Plato uses the word prudence in this sentence on page 123, "And this very quality, prudence in counsel, is evidently a kind of knowledge: for it is not ignorance, I imagine, but knowledge, that makes men deliberate prudently." The word prudence here means to show careful thinking and planning for the future. That is why Plato says that men who plan for the future show that they are knowledgeable or intellectual. (Alexandra Villano)

Pugilist: Plato uses this word instead of using "boxer" or someone that fights. I came to this conclusion because he states "Do you believe that one pugilist trained in the most perfect manner in his work would find it easy to fight with two rich men and fat men, who do not understand boxing?" The last word of that sentence gave away what pugilist means.(Cara Yip)

Preeminently : Plato wrote " our object in the construction of our state is not to make any one class preeminently happy, but to make the whole state as happy as it can be made". This sentence is a part from book four which is about lower classes being disadvantaged and as a result being not happy. The point was made that even if this class is very happy, it is not good for the state to have one class more happy than the other.Therefore preeminently means-in an outstanding way.(Katarzyna Podwysocka)

Panglossian: Daniel Gilbert uses this word on page page 176 "the research I've described so far seems to suggest that human beings are hopelessly Panglossian." I think the word means people who look at the bright side or always find the positive side of every situation. He explains how human beings choose how to think about an experience depending on how it makes them feel. We always choose to look at things in a way that will make us happy and satisfied.(Amina Khan)

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Regret: According to Gilbert is the emotion we feel when we have unsuccessful outcomes that could have been prevented if we would have act differently in the past and we can only blame ourselves for the outcome. Since regret is an experience far from pleasant, in the present we tend to exclude the type of behavior we had in the past to avoid feeling it again. (Liz De La Cruz)

Resilience: "Resilience is often the most commonly observed outcome trajectory following exposure to a potentially traumatic event."(Gilbert, 167) The word resilience means to be able to overcome certain tragedies or events that have done harm to us. It is a psychological thought of humans to be able cope or deal with stress and catastrophic events usually. Gilbert goes on to say that people naturally do very well when things go very bad.(Brian Gutman)

Recency: Recency is referring to something that is fresh or new. Something that happened not too long ago and is modern. Gilbert uses "recency" to refer to our mindset that if there is something we experience recently, it will affect the way we think and perceive things of the same nature in the near future. (Cara Yip)

Repudiation: "Every day would be a repudiation of the day before, as we experienced greater and greater happiness and realized how thoroughly deluded we were until, conveniently enough, now." (Gilbert 57) By viewing the past, we realize and recognize that why we are happy. For example, I thought I was happy since I got a 90 on my first quiz, until, the second time, I became the only 100 in the whole class. I am actually climbing up one more level in happiness. I feel happier, and the happiness which I received on the first quiz is no longer to be labelled as happy. I have learnt what happiness truly is through my experiences. However, right now, I may be "happy enough", and that's the whole point of living! (Stephanie Cheng)

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Shudder: Kate Chopin uses this word in "The Story of an Hour." "It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." I believe she meant that Mrs. Mallard was dreading a long life when her husband was alive. However, when she thought he was dead, life had a new meaning. There was no dreading life anymore; life was going to be different because she was now free. In today's world we cannot imagine how life must have been for Mrs. Mallard. How life must have been so bad and/or hard for her that death was probably something she was looking forward to. Death represented the end of her oppression. (Flor Maldonado)

Sacrilege: "and will he not also be clear of suspicion of sacrilege, and of theft..."(142). The whole page speaks of the things you do to disappoint the gods or the people around you through crimes. Sacrilege might mean lack of honoring the gods or disrespecting them by not following their teachings/values. My definition is supported by Aristotle's repetition of types of crimes and types of bad faith. (Janelle Franco)

Stumling:to strike the foot against something, as in walking or running, so as to stagger or fall; trip., or to walk or go unsteadily: to stumble down a dark passage., or to make a slip, mistake, or blunder, esp. a sinful one: to stumble over a question; to stumble and fall from grace., to proceed in a hesitating or blundering manner, as in action or speech (often fol. by along)., to discover or meet with accidentally or unexpectedly (usually fol. by on, upon, or across): They stumbled on a little village., and to falter or hesitate, as at an obstacle to progress or belief.(Matan Shoshani)

Subterfuge:"we are generally no more aware of our subterfuge than Osten was of his" (173). In my opinion, this word means "to decieve oneself." I believe it means this because Gilbert mentions earlier that Osten had spent his time talking to his horse about math and other things and was later learned that he had fooled himself. (Rukmani Nayyar)

Superfluity: an abundance of something (perhaps wealth, in this case). Aristotle uses this word when referring to external goods. Having "superfluity of means" does not necessarily mean that you will live a comfortable and worry-free life. In other words, this does not guarantee happiness and you don't need external goods in large amounts,in order to achieve happiness (334). (Flor Maldonado)

Superfluity: According to Aristotle we are able to contemplate with our minds forever, but we need external goods to keep our bodies healthy like food, shelter, etc. However, he wrote “… self sufficiency does not depend upon a superfluity of means…”(334)He explained in the text that having more or less goods doesn`t change the fact that one can be a decent person and do good deeds. Value or quantity of external goods are not the factors in attaining happiness. Therefore superfuity means simply an excess. (Kate Podwysocka)

Svelte: Daniel Gilbert uses this term to describe the changes of the body caused by a hot-fudge diet. From the context that Gilbert provides, svelte may be related to the concept of slenderness or being unaffected. According to Gilbert, areas such as the stomach and the buttocks may "acquire flab", while other regions such as the tongue and the toes would hardly change. This contrast implies that while the former is increasing in size, the latter must be maintain a relatively smaller size. Also, by using svelte in relation to this lack of change in size, we can infer that is has to do with keeping composure. (Vadwattie (Vanita) Chaitu)

Swift-footed: I assume this is used to describe someone who is poised and has a steady life. My initial thoughts regarding this word were that it meant someone who walks fast and does not trip. However, Aristotle used this word to describe the praise that we give to men in society. He pairs it with words such as: strong, brave, just, and virtued, thus leading me to believe that the word is not meant to be taken by it's literal translation. (Rukmani Nayyar)

Swift-Footed: Aristotle uses the term "swift-footed" to describe someone who we appraise and admire because they have qualities that are related to something good. He is describing a man who is "strong" and "brave" and "swift-footed" as someone who we praise (Aristotle 86). So I made the assumption that the adjective swift-footed must be a positive description of someone. Knowing that the word "swift" means something along the lines of quickly or fast, I assumed that a person who is swift-footed is someone who moves fast. I do not think Aristotle is referring to someone who's feet move fast, but someone who may react quickly or take quick actions. Usually a person who is like this is admired because they show strength and confidence, and as I mentioned before, Aristotle uses this word with "strong" in the same line. (Astrid Cuas)

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Temperance: Plato thought that temperance was one of the four most important qualities a person can have in an orginization; along with courage, wisdom, and justice. Temperance is the the ability to control ones desires, according to plato. A temperant person is a master of himself, a person who lets the good in themselves over power the bad. (Rey Perez)

Temperance is having the strength (mental, spiritual, or physical) to master abstinance. It is the ability to restrain from, beat, or overcome temptations. (Maria Londono)

Trivial: Something that has little or no importance to an individual. Although one person may see something to be trivial, another person may see the same thing as having great importance. For example, one may think that English classes are trivial, while others may regard English as being the most important subject. Whether something is trivial or not could be based on opinion, but it could also be matter of fact. (Timothy Boros)

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Ubiquitous: According to Gilbert, the automatic, unconscious predictions that are made by humans are ubiquitous; in other words we are always making predictions no matter what we are doing. For example, whether we are watching our favorite show on television or walking in the park, we are always unconsciously predicting what will happen next and adjust to these predictions. (Gilbert,Page 9) (Farzana Ghanie)

Ubiquity: To be everywhere like being omnipresent. (Stephanie Betancourt)

Unanimous: When all members of a group collectively have the same decision for a particular issue. Either all the members of the group say, "yes" or they all say, "no." Everyone must have the exact same decision. For example, on American Idol, when either all the judges say, "yes" or they all say, "no" to a contestant, then they have come to a unanimous decision. (Timothy Boros)

Unpalatable: On page 174, Gilbert uses the word "unpalatable" in the sentence in relation with food. By unpaltable I believes its a discussion of something that is unpleasant and disgusting. Before they had spoke about healthy foods being bitter and then when the mention of Spam came up it was descibed as unhealthy as well as unpalatable. From that it seems that by saying unpalatable it's like stating that its bitter or untasteful as food. (Ada Deng)

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Variegated: "...but the intricate, variegated, multidimensional experiences of which every human life is a collage" (Gilbert 174) By variegated, I think Gilbert is referring to variety and diversity. He uses this word in describing experiences that make our lives a collage. If you think about what we know a collage to be (a variety of different images, words etc. placed together), we can see how the word can relate to variety. (Astrid Cuas)

Vacuous:" a vacuous state of "bovine contentment" " (Gilbert 38). I believe Gilbert refers to vacuous as any empty and incoherent thoughts. (Stephanie Betancourt)

Vicissitudes: a change in life. The highs and lows of life. Happiness is one of these aspects of life, "activity of soul". (page 81, Aristotle) (Rohit Sharma)

Vicissitudes: appears to be a synonym for "reversals" and "misfortunes", as used in the text. Aristotle uses this word when he speaks about misfortune. He simply opposes good luck with the meaning of this word.

Vicissitudes: tragic twist in life of a great fortune. Defined by context, in the course of life we encounter many reverses and all kinds of vicissitudes, and in old age even the most prosperous of men may be involved in great misfortunes. Vicissitudes, defined by context seem like a twist in life that was not foreseen. I think by old age in the sentence, it means the knowledge and wisdom not age as in numbers.This sentence is saying that even a wise man could fall from the most prosperous life. (Bonjun Koo)

Vicissitudes: In the course of life we encounter many reverses and all kinds of VICISSITUDES…Since Aristotle is mentioning the “course of life” and “reverses” I think that vicissitudes means changes or alternations throughout a time span. As Aristotle mentions this change can be of all “kinds”: emotions, wealth, health… We as people cannot, as much as we want, be happy all the time. We experience happiness, sadness, anger, and all kinds of emotions. These changes are our emotional vicissitudes.(Shamima Akter)

Virtuous Activities: activities that determined how happy one can be. Very persistent activities that are very high esteemed. According to Aristotle the truly happy engage in this kind of activities for most of their lives (83). (Liz De La Cruz)

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Wealth: According to Plato it produces luxury, idleness as well as innovation.(Liz De La Cruz)