Discover global perspectives on happiness through this series of essays. Happiness and Virtue Beyond East and West presents an important series of essays from Japanese and American authors that examine essential virtues shared by both Eastern and Western cultures. Its ultimate goal is for happiness to be realized in a globally and socially responsible manner. Each chapter examines the importance of one of nine virtues Courage Justice Benevolence Gratitude Wisdom Reflection Respect Responsibility Temperance These essays demonstrate that the virtues and happiness associated with living a good life know no national boundaries. It is the sincere hope of the editors and authors that this book will help its readers re-examine the timeless question of what constitutes true happiness and will therefore play some part in increasing international cooperation and good will. Perfect for readers interested in transculturalism, Happiness and Virtue Beyond East and Westis a thorough examination of global perspectives on happiness.

This edited collection challenges the common preoccupation with knowledge acquisition and academic achievement by comparing the aims and cultural beliefs which drive education in different countries throughout the world. Through case studies from countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, the authors present how education can be approached holistically to foster student happiness and well-being. The book illustrates wide-ranging interpretations of what it means to provide a "good education," and how student-centered, holistic approaches to learning can be effective in promoting creativity, tolerance, student well-being, and an appreciation of environmental and societal responsibilities. Based on rigorous mixed-method empirical research, it highlights how the integration of happiness in education can not only enhance academic excellence but can also have a positive impact on the students’ overall well-being. This cutting-edge book focuses on the holistic development and well-being of students and will be a relevant reading for educators, researchers, and students in such diverse fields as psychology, the sociology and philosophy of education, intercultural education, education policy and politics, leadership/management, mental health, and international and comparative education.

The Journal of Character Education is the one professional journal in education devoted to character education. Our goal is to cover the field—from the latest research to applied best practices. We include editorials and conceptual articles by the best minds in our field, reviews of latest books, ideas and examples of the integration with character education of socio?emotional learning and other relevant strategies, manuscripts by educators that describe best practices in teaching and learning related to character education, and Character Education Partnership (CEP) updates and association news.

Many people are drawn towards virtue ethics because of the central place it gives to emotions in the good life. Yet it may seem odd to evaluate emotions as virtuous or non-virtuous, for how can we be held responsible for those powerful feelings that simply engulf us? And how can education help us to manage our emotional lives? The aim of this book is to offer readers a new Aristotelian analysis and moral justification of a number of emotions that Aristotle did not mention (awe, grief, and jealousy), or relegated, at best, to the level of the semi-virtuous (shame), or made disparaging remarks about (gratitude), or rejected explicitly (pity, understood as pain at another person's deserved bad fortune). Kristján Kristjánsson argues that there are good Aristotelian reasons for understanding those emotions either as virtuous or as indirectly conducive to virtue. Virtuous Emotions begins with an overview of Aristotle's ideas on the nature of emotions and of emotional value, and concludes with an account of Aristotelian emotion education.

"Philosophies of Gratitude is a study of gratitude as a philosophical concept. It explores what past philosophers from Aristotle to Kant have said about gratitude, and examines what role the idea of gratitude has played in their philosophies. It also looks at the three primary ways we think about gratitude - as an emotion we feel in response to a gift or benefit, as an act we perform to express our thankfulness, and as a virtuous disposition in which we are and feel ready to be grateful to the world we inhabit. Like love and trust, gratitude is a way we react to other people in our lives, sometimes for who they are (lovable or trustworthy) and sometimes for what they do (act benevolently towards us). It is a way we feel and act towards others. It is, in other words, a primary way we situate ourselves in relationships. Philosophies of Gratitude examines the key historical moments when gratitude was an important philosophical concept - in classical antiquity, in the early modern era, and in the Enlightenment - in order to discover what gratitude meant for those who produced our fundamental Western notions of ethics. It then examines the forms gratitude assumes - as a feeling, an act, a disposition - in order to discern what role our emotions play in our ethical responses to the world. Finally, it examines what we can say about ingratitude as a response that usually strikes us as base, in other words, as a moment when a human being fails to act morally, but also as a response that sometimes indicates a deeper kind of ethical stand against injustice"--

Educating students for emotional wellbeing is a vital task in schools. However, educating emotions is not straightforward. Emotional processes can be challenging to identify and control. How emotions are valued varies across societies, while individuals within societies face different emotional expectations. For example, girls face pressure to be happy and caring, while boys are often encouraged to be brave. This text analyses the best practices of educating emotions. The focus is not just on the psychological benefits of emotional regulation, but also on how calls for educating emotions connect to the aims of society. The book explores psychology's understanding of emotions, 'the politics of emotions', and philosophy. It also discusses education for happiness, compassion, gratitude, resilience, mindfulness, courage, vulnerability, anger, sadness, and fear.

If we live in the Western world we are said to be free. But are we? To what degree are we bound by our thoughts and emotions? What fuses us to habitual patterns of thinking and behaving? Are we ever really free of conditioning? Freedom Beyond Conditioning: East–West researches the complex world of emotional life. It looks at the multifaceted relationships between body and mind; and the body-mind fusion that is emotion. Using empirical data, this book investigates the correlations between emotional life and mental freedom: analysing the experiential nature of a conditioned existence, while answering some difficult philosophical questions. Freedom Beyond Conditioning presents an interesting anthology of some of the world’s most critical thinkers. It suggests that freedom is defined through its etymological links to friendship and justice, revealing the quintessential paradox of “responsible freedom”. This book blends the subtleties of Eastern theories of energy, and their relationship to freedom, with the Western world’s science-based approach to mind and body. Ultimately, Freedom Beyond Conditioning synthesises a healthy expression of emotional energy with the achievement of balance and wellbeing, and offers it as a true representation of freedom, one that is revealed through the paradoxical freedom of restraint.

This work concerns the oneness hypothesis--the view, found in different forms and across various disciplines, that we and our welfare are inextricably intertwined with other people, creatures, and things--and its implications for conceptions of the self, virtue, and human happiness.

This open access book discusses a variety of important but unprecedented ways in which psychology can be useful to philosophy. The early chapters illustrate this theme via comparisons between Chinese and Western philosophy. It is argued that the Chinese notion of a heart-mind is superior to the Western concept of mind, but then, more even-handedly, the relative strengths and weaknesses of Chinese and Western thought overall are critically examined. In later chapters, the philosophical uses of psychology are treated more specifically in relation to major issues in Western philosophy. Michael Slote shows that empathy and emotion play a role in speech acts (like assertion and thanking) that speech act theory has totally ignored. Similarly, he treats the age-old question of whether justice pays using psychological material that has not previously been recognized. Finally, the implications of psychological egoism are discussed in terms of some new psychological and, indeed, human distinctions. Human life is pervaded by instincts and aspirations that are neither egoistic nor altruistic, and recognizing that fact can help put egoism in its place. It is less of a challenge to morality than we have realized.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive look at the educational scope of life and values that characterize 21st-century Asia, as well as those values shared across cultures. Some values are deeply resonant with the region’s past while others reflect modernity and the new contexts in which Asian societies find themselves. Exploring these values of different types and the way they are constructed in Eastern and Western contexts, the contributors delve into the diversity of religious, moral and social education to promote greater understanding across cultures. While a range of values is identified here, there is no single set of values that can be applied to all people in all contexts. The time has long gone, even for single societies, when values can be imposed. Yet this Handbook emphasizes both the extent and importance of values to individuals and their societies—how they respond to these values may provide the key to better and more caring societies and to better lives for all. Academics and teachers will find this Handbook resourceful because it raises important theoretical issues related to social values and their formation in distinctive contexts and provides novel insights into the diverse educational landscape in Asia. Policymakers and educators will also find this text helpful in learning to think about new ways to improve the quality of people’s lives.