Corollary Number One: The examined life that doesn’t produce practical results isn’t worth living. Contemplating one’s navel has its pleasures but it is far more satisfying to see results, a better navel. Eudaimonia, the Greeks called it. Often translated as “happiness,” the word signifies something larger: a flourishing, meaningful life. Consider, as the contemporary philosopher Robert Solomon suggests, two people. One has an elaborate theory of generosity, while the other does not. “Generosity just flows from him, unthinkingly, as water flows from a fountain.” The second person is clearly
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