Our entire archive is now to free to listen at philosophytalk.org, so this feed will no longer be updated. You can subscribe to receive full episodes at https://philosophytalk.org/get-the-podcast.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/schopenhauer-living-your-worst-life.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) is considered one of the great European philosophers of the nineteenth century. His most famous work, The World as Will and Representation, presents a pessimistic view of a world filled with endless strife and suffering, where happiness can only be but fleeting. So, how did Schopenhauer think we ought to live with one another in such a world? Did he believe there was ultimately a way to overcome the pain of the human condition? Or are we all doomed to live frustration-filled lives? Josh and Ray keep a sunny disposition with David Bather Woods from the University of Warwick, author of Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy’s Greatest Pessimist.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/can-money-buy-well-being.

Governments and central banks set economic policies that affect us all. But how do those policies influence our quality of life? And how can that quality even be measured? Gross Domestic Product (GDP) includes many factors that have little to do with the regular person’s happiness. What do people really need, beyond enough to live on? And how can we make sure they get it? Josh and Ray spend some quality time with Jayati Ghosh from UMass Amherst, co-author of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity.