Reflection: Happiness in Practice
PHIL E-155: Happiness
Tyler Langl
April 2025
Connecting Philosophy and Practice
This project has been an interdisciplinary exploration of happiness through a digital platform that unites philosophical traditions with psychological insight. As someone studying industrial organizational psychology, my goal was to create a functional tool that invites public engagement and promotes personal reflection and well-being in professional environments. The final product—a live website featuring daily happiness quotes, an interactive philosophical quiz, and a small-scale workplace well-being study—reflects a practical synthesis of course content and personal insight.
Course Connections and Philosophical Engagement
Throughout the project, I engaged deeply with traditions including Stoicism, Epicureanism, Daoism, Existentialism, and contemporary thinkers like Martha Nussbaum and Dan Haybron. Each tradition emphasizes a distinct conception of happiness, from Stoic emotional regulation to Daoist flow and existentialist self-creation. In creating the daily quote generator, I distilled these rich perspectives into accessible, thought-provoking statements—each with a plain-language explanation grounded in the source’s philosophical context.
The quiz portion required careful consideration of how these schools of thought would translate into multiple-choice questions. This process pushed me to think critically about the essential tenets of each tradition: What does it mean to “align with the Dao” in contrast to “accept what is beyond control” (Stoicism)? How do compassion and human development (Nussbaum) differ in application from existential self-responsibility (Sartre)? Each question became a reflection of the nuances of happiness that we explored during the semester.
Personal and Professional Takeaways
Personally, the project reminded me how much joy I find in digital creation and philosophical synthesis. The process of designing the site, troubleshooting bugs, and refining visual flow was often meditative—a testament to the very philosophies I was featuring.
Professionally, the workplace research component underscored how psychological well-being is not just individual but deeply cultural. Happiness interventions don’t succeed on good vibes alone—they require structure, philosophical grounding, and evidence-based strategy. This was a helpful challenge to my initial bias toward empirical solutions; instead, I found that insights from the Bhagavad Gita, Aristotle, and the Dhammapada are surprisingly relevant in modern workplace design.
Conclusion
This project has deepened my understanding of happiness as a social construct and a personal journey. By blending digital design, philosophy, and psychology, I’ve created a tool that invites users to pause, reflect, and explore. In the spirit of many traditions we studied, I hope this site remains a gentle prompt—a quote, a quiz, a question—that helps others along their own path toward a flourishing life.
The Happy Philosopher 