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Dr. Sebastian Purcell
The Happiness Researcher
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way- Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning
Dr. Sebastian Purcell holds the title of Happiness Researcher, for a reason. He even offers a class called “Happiness.” As Interim Chair of Philosophy at the State of the University of New York at Cortland, his work is well-renowned as he analyses the practices of Stoicism in both the Greek and Aztec cultures. And I am stumped.
“We don’t want happy lives,” he contends, “we want worthwhile lives.” While some pursue happiness to no avail, Dr. Purcell suggests a worthwhile life is a practice where one must let go of outcomes and respond to challenges wisely.
The Happiness Researcher’s philosophy mixes principles of Stoicism and Aztec culture. And if you indulge him, he will break down for you, in the most concise terms, how to live a worthy life.
Dr. Purcell proclaimation that people would rather live a worthy life than a happy one. This reoccurring theme remains omnipresent in all his articles. He provides examples and applications of this theory that make it hard to refute.
