Flourish FM Epsiode # 13: Meaning, happiness, morality and flourishing - a conversation with Will Reusch
In this episode, we talked to Will Reusch about whether an evil person can live a meaningful life and flourish; what happiness is and how its role in our lives changes depending on how we define it; and the similarities and differences between influential contemporary theories of flourishing.
Will Reusch is an educator and podcaster. For the last thirteen years he has taught multiple subjects at public and private schools in Los Angeles, his main subject being social studies. Since 2019 he has hosted the podcast Cylinder Radio, an educational podcast which focuses on exploring controversial topics.
Will never had an interest in academics at school and struggled to connect what he was learning to build a successful and meaningful life. He came to believe that educational systems designed to teach children to become capable, informed, and equipped seem to fail in achieving these goals for so many young people. Will decided to become a schoolteacher to try to improve this.
Key conversation points:
- The importance of morality, character and virtue for flourishing, and possible reasons why evil people cannot live meaningful lives or flourish
- Different definitions of happiness and how it takes on different roles in education depending on how it’s defined
- The problems with aiming for happiness in education or as an end goal in life
- The problems with thinking of happiness as pleasure and the importance of thinking of happiness as a long-term state
- Two major theories of flourishing: positive psychology’s “PERMA” model (Positive emotions; Engagement; positive Relationships; Meaning; and Accomplishment) and the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s account