The World's Best Book Summaries
How does utilitarianism define happiness? What does utilitarian happiness have to do with morality? Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy that prescribes actions that maximize welfare or happiness. Utilitarians argue that happiness and pain are the only ways we can measure morality—morally good things make people happy, while morally bad things cause people pain. Keep reading to learn about the utilitarian conception of happiness and how can be measured.
What causes emotional suffering? How do our thoughts perpetuate unnecessary emotional negativity? According to spiritual teacher, Byron Katie, we have no real reason to feel emotional pain, regardless of what happens to us. The real cause of emotional suffering is not what happens to us, but what we think about it. Here’s why our internal thoughts—not external experiences—lie at the root of all suffering.
What causes us to make immoral decisions that hurt other human beings? How does the human tendency to seek social approval jeopardize morality? At its heart, human nature is inherently good and moral because morality has survival value. However, we often make immoral choices because we irrationally base our decisions on what other people are doing rather than on what we think is right. Keep reading to learn about the psychology behind moral decision-making.
What is Byron Katie’s Loving What Is about? What is the key message to take away from the book? In Loving What Is, Byron Katie argues that life experiences don’t cause emotional pain, only resistant thoughts that judge experiences as somehow wrong or unwanted do. Therefore, releasing resistant thoughts allows you to accept and feel at peace with life, no matter what happens. Below is a brief overview of Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie.
Why do we make bad decisions? How can you increase your chances of making the right choice? When making decisions, we are often tempted to prioritize short-term results over long-term benefits. More often than not, this leads to bad decisions in the long run because those short-term benefits come at the cost of future benefits. Here’s how the failure to think long-term results in wrong decisions you’ll regret down the road.
Are you a dating “maximizer”? How does maximizing prevent you from finding the right partner? According to dating coach Logan Ury, maximizers are people who go to great lengths to make sure they’ve found the right person. They want their partner to tick all the boxes, looking for perfect compatibility and refusing to settle for less. Here’s why maximizers struggle to find love, according to Ury.
What makes a man an “alpha”? Why are women attracted to dominant men? According to Richard Cooper, success with women shouldn’t be your main reason for pursuing the status of an alpha male. You should want to become dominant for yourself—success with women is just a fringe benefit. That said, the first step to becoming an alpha is to determine your current dominance level. With this in mind, here’s how to become an alpha male, according to Richard Cooper.
Why is it so hard to make decisions? What are some ways you can narrow down your options to make it easier to arrive at an optimal choice? Decision-making is difficult because nobody has access to perfectly accurate, comprehensive sources of information. Rather, our information is often messy and flawed, so we can’t always predict how our decisions will pan out. In this article, we’ll explore three types of decision-making models to recommend the best choice based on the complexity of the decision.
Who is a “romanticizer” in the context of dating? How does being too romantic about dating prevent you from finding the right person? If you’re what Logan Ury calls a romanticizer, you approach dating with an attitude that your relationship happiness depends on whom you’re dating. In other words, you believe in the idea of a soulmate, thereby putting your happiness in the hands of fate rather than your own. Here’s why romanticizers don’t fare well in dating, according to Logan Ury.
Are you the kind of person who prefers a relationship to develop organically? Or do you intentionally decide whether, when, and how to move to the next stage? When it comes to moving to the next relationship milestone, there are two kinds of people: People who reactively “slide” into the next stage without giving it serious consideration and people who consciously “decide” to move into the next stage. In the long run, deciders tend to fare better. In this article, you’ll learn how to decide well at turning points in the relationship: defining the relationship, cohabitating, and getting married.