Can Things Make Us Happy? Ancient Perspectives from China and Greece

There are, quite simply, too many things in the world. Not only do we spend most of our time producing and consuming stuff, but we have entire industries dedicated to helping us to manage and control the things we accumulate. But are things really necessary for our happiness? Given that things can’t really be avoided, what is the correct attitude to take towards them? How might we replace a grasping, clutching attitude with an appreciative, light touch? This talk will explore these questions through an examination of the works of two ancient philosophers: the Zhuangzi, a Daoist text from China from the 4th Century BC; and the work of Epictetus, a Greek Stoic who was a slave in Rome in the 1st Century AD.

Professor O’Leary is a philosopher who has worked and studied in Ireland, Paris, Hong Kong, and Australia. His research is in the area of contemporary European philosophy, in particular the work of Michel Foucault, and has also researched widely on the topic of the relations between ethics and aesthetics. He has published two monographs, including most recently Foucault and Fiction: The Experience Book, (Bloomsbury, 2011). He has co-edited numerous edited collection and journal special issues. Before taking up the position of Head of School Humanities & Languages at UNSW in 2018, he taught philosophy for 17 years at the University of Hong Kong.