Hi TOK List,

  Had not heard a Daniel Schmachtenberger in a while and heard the first 40 minutes of this today on my walk. I definitely enjoy the way he thinks.

 

  I encourage folks to listen to the first 18 or so minutes. It starts with some reflections on the nature of education and childrearing that I think line up closely with what we heard Prof Darcia Narvaez discuss on Monday.

 

  Then the interviewer asks Daniel about his ultimate values and tries to engage in a force choice question between optimizing for length of survival versus happiness. The exchange that follows is worthwhile if you want to understand both what I am doing with the Nested Model of Well-being, as well as my “big three ultimate values” of dignity, well-being and integrity. If anyone wants specifics, I can elaborate, but the short answer is that there is a way to develop “ultimate justifications” but as Daniel rightfully notes, it is complex (and not just complicated 😊).

Best,
Gregg