The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World

Owen Flanagan's new book, The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World, offers a synthesis of ancient wisdom traditions with the best of contemporary science, ethics, and epistemology. The amalgamation is a delightful and thought-provoking survey of what it means for humans to flourish. Flanagan explains why what we know from today's best science should leave us genuinely hopeful for a sketch of best-practices for living full, ethically committed lives. Written in a clear, dryly witty style, The Really Hard Problem speaks to lay readers and theorists alike. I worked through the book over the course over three days, often stopping to read passages aloud to my partner and take notes about how humans should understand themselves in the world. If you're interested in a fruitful, spiritually-expansive dialogue between science and wisdom traditions, then I recommend this book highly. It's simply terrific.

Flanagan's knack for addressing issues that have real stakes outside the academy--issues concerning the meaning of life, human nature and flourishing, and the clash of humanism and scientism--is on brilliant display in this book. Among the book's virtues are Flangan's careful engagement with the brain sciences and his ability to draw from diverse traditions of philosophy. This is philosophical writing at its finest.

Flanagan fills some very large gaps in this short compendium. He offers a view of conscious experience in a material world that allows for beauty and quiet awe all the while breaking none of the laws of natural science. Attempting to synthesize the wisdom of the Buddhist and Taoist (and other Eastern spiritual traditions) with the latests findings in the physical and social sciences is nothing to sneeze at, but Flanagan weaves a beautiful tapestry of a non-reductive material mind that has free-will and causality and is integrated with the physical world and body. The aim of the mind-body, he explains is to achieve Eudaimonia, or flourishing/well-being. He draws upon a strong knowledge of brain imaging in experienced meditating monks, the positive psychology movement, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and evolutionary theory to solidify his main points. Flanagan provides a compelling argument that we can determine objectively (relative to current situations) the best way to going about living the "good life" without appealing to anything super-natural.

Contrary to popular conceptions about "spirituality," Indian religion and philosophy are closely related to the Indic natural sciences (i.e. mathematics and astronomy). Around the sixth century BCE, philosophical works were produced that examined the position of living beings, and the universe, as a "natural phenomenon" (Warder, 1970). Many of these thinkers maintained that life evolved out of natural laws, and was not subject to the control of gods -- or a God. Their diverse systems of thought ranged from philosophical materialism to im-materialism; however these philosophers were united by a common goal -- the search for meaning and happiness. One of the more famous individuals to emerge from this era of Indian history was the Buddha. It is little wonder that the contemporary philosopher, Owen Flanagan, has taken a serious interest in the rich philosophical literature of Buddhism, and its most visible spokesperson -- the Dalai Lama. Flanagan's new book, THE REALLY HARD PROBLEM: MEANING IN A MATERIAL WORLD, is the product of many years of research in both Western and Eastern philosophy of mind. While he champions certain elements of non-Western thought, he never strays from his foundational commitment to naturalism. The purpose of his project is clearly pragmatic in its multidisciplinary approach and its aim to promote "human flourishing." Resurrecting the language of Aristotle, Flanagan refers to this as "Project Eudaimonia." He says: "Eudaimonics, as I conceive it and depict it in what follows, provides a framework for thinking in a unified way about philosophical psychology, moral and political philosophy, neuroethics, neuroeconomics, and positive psychology, as well as about transformative mindfulness practices that have their original home in non-theistic spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism. . . Eudaimonics is the activity of systematically gathering what is known about these three components of well-being and attempting to engender as much flourishing as is possible" (page 4). Flanagan's innovative thinking is a refreshing contrast to the parochial and culturally myopic ideas of his philosophical peers. In choosing to address a "really hard problem" (i.e. human happiness), he not only contributes a much needed voice, but adds his name to a lineage of naturalist thinkers going back to ancient Greece and India. This book will surely be a milestone in the ongoing (perhaps never-ending) endeavor to find "meaning in a material world."

Owen Flanagan endeavours to find meaning in a material world - no less. And what a quest it is! Never mind his conclusions, Flanagan's book trumps the not-so-intelligent works of design theorists by its sheer breadth of argument, imaginative approach and evocative style, empowering its readers to summon up their own wisdom in answering the one really hard question that life has in store for us: supposing that consciousness is nothing but an emergent property of a functioning brain, what does that mean? Who else would have the philosophical wherewithal to draw on the Dalai Lama's interlocutory exploration of Western science to shed light on our own culture's tentative grappling with the findings of neuroscience and evolutionary biology? Flanagan's graceful treatment of the Dalai Lama's so-called caveat - not finding something does not prove it does not exist - is a first, as is his discussion of this modern Tibetan philosopher's stance on the neuronal-correlates-of-consciousness view. Any reader who prefers to think for himself of herself about the meaning of life - instead of being lectured on it ex cathedra - should read Owen Flanagan's work.