You are doing well and something is missing
The checklist is complete and the question remains.
Courses
See what you would learn
Explore what philosophers mean by a good life, using your own.
A course on the oldest question in philosophy. It compares views of happiness, virtue and meaning from Aristotle to the present, and tests each against ordinary choices you can reflect on, so the ideas become tools rather than quotations.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I want to explore what philosophers mean by a good life. Compare different views of happiness, virtue, and meaning using ordinary choices I can reflect on.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
- Best for
- Philosophy
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- What prompts the question for you: a decision, a season of life, or long-standing curiosity?
- Do you lean toward happiness, achievement, duty or meaning as the measure of a life?
- Have you read any philosophy before?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You have never been asked what good means
Success was defined for you, and you would like to define it.
You want the thinkers, not the self-help
Aristotle over affirmations.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06Happiness or flourishing
Pleasure and satisfaction versus living well, and why the distinction matters.
Aristotle
Virtue, activity and the life well lived, in modern terms.
Duty and the good
Kant and the idea that a good life is a moral one.
Meaning
Frankl, Camus and the question of what makes a life matter.
Modern accounts
Preference, wellbeing research and the capabilities approach.
Your own view
Working out what you actually believe, tested against choices you face.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Compare the main views
Explain hedonist, eudaimonic, duty-based and meaning-centred accounts in plain words.
Test them against your life
Use ordinary choices to see which view you actually hold.
Reflect with more precision
Ask better questions about how you are living.
Ideas this course corrects
Philosophers agree that happiness is the goal
They disagree sharply. Several of the most influential thought happiness was beside the point.
This is abstract
It decides how you spend Tuesday. Few questions are more practical.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
A course on the oldest question in philosophy. It compares views of happiness, virtue and meaning from Aristotle to the present, and tests each against ordinary choices you can reflect on, so the ideas become tools rather than quotations. It sits under Philosophy in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I want to explore what philosophers mean by a good life. Compare different views of happiness, virtue, and meaning using ordinary choices I can reflect on.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.