Anné H. Verhoef is a professor of philosophy at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Anné Verhoef’s book is a timely and welcome work on the philosophy of happiness. It offers a broad survey of the many contemporary views on happiness, as well as a thorough analysis of Paul Ricoeur’s ideas on this topic. Against the current tendency to aim at increasing one’s happiness, including many commercial efforts to sell alleged unique roads to complete happiness, this study argues for relating happiness, unhappiness and chance. Verhoef rightly argues that happiness is not only something to achieve; it needs to be given, and this gift can only be accepted if one confirms human life, including its possible unhappiness and misfortune. This book is an important work for Ricoeur scholars and continental philosophers, but also for anyone who is interested in a profound academic study of happiness.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Problem of Happiness1.1 The Problem of Happiness1.2 The Problem of Defining Happiness1.3 The Crisis of Happiness1.4 Defining Happiness Etymologically 1.5 Luck, Chance, Fate, and UnhappinessChapter 2: Common Understandings of Happiness2.1 Drawing a Map from Happiness Literature Chapter 3: Other Understandings of Happiness3.1 A More Complete Typology of Happiness3.2 The Need to Rethink Happiness Philosophically Chapter 4: Negation, Affirmation and Happiness4.1 Introduction to Ricoeur’s Work Regarding Happiness 4.2 The Need for a Real-World HappinessChapter 5: Happiness And Being Human5.1 Ricoeur’s Philosophical Anthropology and Happiness5.2 Happiness as Comprehensive and Transcendent5.3 Ricoeur’s Other Relevant Work on HappinessChapter 6: The Place and Language of Happiness6.1 The Need for a Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness, and Chance6.2 Is Happiness Out of Bounds?6.3 The Optative Mood of HappinessChapter 7: A Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance7.1 Ricoeur’s Affirmative Philosophy and Happiness7.2 Happiness, Chance and Capability7.3 The Dialectic Between Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance Chapter 8: Implications Of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness8.1 Definitions and Problems of Happiness8.2 Happiness and Religion8.3 Happiness and the Happiness Sciences8.4 The Crisis of Happiness: Consumerism and Algorithmic Ecologies Chapter 9: Relevant Happiness9.1 Happiness as the Most Important Desire in Life9.2 Critique of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness9.3 The Challenges of Happiness9.4 The Possibility of Relevant HappinessReferencesIndex

Anné H. Verhoef is a professor of philosophy at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Anné Verhoef’s book is a timely and welcome work on the philosophy of happiness. It offers a broad survey of the many contemporary views on happiness, as well as a thorough analysis of Paul Ricoeur’s ideas on this topic. Against the current tendency to aim at increasing one’s happiness, including many commercial efforts to sell alleged unique roads to complete happiness, this study argues for relating happiness, unhappiness and chance. Verhoef rightly argues that happiness is not only something to achieve; it needs to be given, and this gift can only be accepted if one confirms human life, including its possible unhappiness and misfortune. This book is an important work for Ricoeur scholars and continental philosophers, but also for anyone who is interested in a profound academic study of happiness.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Problem of Happiness1.1 The Problem of Happiness1.2 The Problem of Defining Happiness1.3 The Crisis of Happiness1.4 Defining Happiness Etymologically 1.5 Luck, Chance, Fate, and UnhappinessChapter 2: Common Understandings of Happiness2.1 Drawing a Map from Happiness Literature Chapter 3: Other Understandings of Happiness3.1 A More Complete Typology of Happiness3.2 The Need to Rethink Happiness Philosophically Chapter 4: Negation, Affirmation and Happiness4.1 Introduction to Ricoeur’s Work Regarding Happiness 4.2 The Need for a Real-World HappinessChapter 5: Happiness And Being Human5.1 Ricoeur’s Philosophical Anthropology and Happiness5.2 Happiness as Comprehensive and Transcendent5.3 Ricoeur’s Other Relevant Work on HappinessChapter 6: The Place and Language of Happiness6.1 The Need for a Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness, and Chance6.2 Is Happiness Out of Bounds?6.3 The Optative Mood of HappinessChapter 7: A Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance7.1 Ricoeur’s Affirmative Philosophy and Happiness7.2 Happiness, Chance and Capability7.3 The Dialectic Between Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance Chapter 8: Implications Of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness8.1 Definitions and Problems of Happiness8.2 Happiness and Religion8.3 Happiness and the Happiness Sciences8.4 The Crisis of Happiness: Consumerism and Algorithmic Ecologies Chapter 9: Relevant Happiness9.1 Happiness as the Most Important Desire in Life9.2 Critique of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness9.3 The Challenges of Happiness9.4 The Possibility of Relevant HappinessReferencesIndex

Anné H. Verhoef is a professor of philosophy at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Anné Verhoef’s book is a timely and welcome work on the philosophy of happiness. It offers a broad survey of the many contemporary views on happiness, as well as a thorough analysis of Paul Ricoeur’s ideas on this topic. Against the current tendency to aim at increasing one’s happiness, including many commercial efforts to sell alleged unique roads to complete happiness, this study argues for relating happiness, unhappiness and chance. Verhoef rightly argues that happiness is not only something to achieve; it needs to be given, and this gift can only be accepted if one confirms human life, including its possible unhappiness and misfortune. This book is an important work for Ricoeur scholars and continental philosophers, but also for anyone who is interested in a profound academic study of happiness.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Problem of Happiness1.1 The Problem of Happiness1.2 The Problem of Defining Happiness1.3 The Crisis of Happiness1.4 Defining Happiness Etymologically 1.5 Luck, Chance, Fate, and UnhappinessChapter 2: Common Understandings of Happiness2.1 Drawing a Map from Happiness Literature Chapter 3: Other Understandings of Happiness3.1 A More Complete Typology of Happiness3.2 The Need to Rethink Happiness Philosophically Chapter 4: Negation, Affirmation and Happiness4.1 Introduction to Ricoeur’s Work Regarding Happiness 4.2 The Need for a Real-World HappinessChapter 5: Happiness And Being Human5.1 Ricoeur’s Philosophical Anthropology and Happiness5.2 Happiness as Comprehensive and Transcendent5.3 Ricoeur’s Other Relevant Work on HappinessChapter 6: The Place and Language of Happiness6.1 The Need for a Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness, and Chance6.2 Is Happiness Out of Bounds?6.3 The Optative Mood of HappinessChapter 7: A Dialectics of Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance7.1 Ricoeur’s Affirmative Philosophy and Happiness7.2 Happiness, Chance and Capability7.3 The Dialectic Between Happiness, Unhappiness and Chance Chapter 8: Implications Of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness8.1 Definitions and Problems of Happiness8.2 Happiness and Religion8.3 Happiness and the Happiness Sciences8.4 The Crisis of Happiness: Consumerism and Algorithmic Ecologies Chapter 9: Relevant Happiness9.1 Happiness as the Most Important Desire in Life9.2 Critique of Ricoeur’s Understanding of Happiness9.3 The Challenges of Happiness9.4 The Possibility of Relevant HappinessReferencesIndex