The Learn Tracker
...life-long learning: structured, organized, searchable...

My name is Edward Tanguay.
I have a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, a Masters in Education, and am currently working as a web developer in Berlin, Germany.

I watch over 200 college-level MOOC lectures per year in subjects such as history , psychology, science, religion, art, philosophy, and IT development in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, and record my notes here.
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edward [at] tanguay.info

Learning Activity by Month:

The primary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to build a web site which serves as one place to record the notes of everything that I am learning from MOOC classes, to foreign languages, to useful code examples and technical how-to notes, so that I not only have an overview of what I have learned, but can search and recall these notes at any time.

The secondary goal of this Learn Tracker project is to work together with companies, universities, and MOOC providers to build software that allows employees, students, and learners to record what they are learning in an efficient way so that it serves not only as (1) a record of what they have learned, but also (2) a place for them to review and search what they have learned.

Since January 2013, I have watched and recorded notes on over 300 MOOC lectures from over 30 different courses in both English and French, and have watched and recorded notes and flashcards on over 50 foreign language videos in Italian, French and Spanish. (I am curently still adding notes I took from 2013 and plan to be caught up by the end of January 2014.

May 2014 Learn Certificate
Watched and took notes on 24 college lectures:
Learned 21 vocabulary words:
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Learned about 21 people:
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Corrected 20 misspelling:
defered, blugeoned, assistence, Portugese, adrenlin, sceptical, transfered, absense, occured, assistent, comparitive, insistance, emphemoral, ventrical, undesireable, guerilla, momentus, occured, questionaire, monsterous
Recorded 44 Flashcards from MOOC lectures:
  • blood comes back from the lungs into the left ventricle which pumps it out to the what?
                        
  • from where to where were the Chinese nationalists trying to move their capital in 1947
                        
  • membrane that surrounds the heart
                        
  • on an anatomy model, blue vessels carry what kind of blood?
                        
  • three people who helped create the Marshall plan
                        
  • vessel that carries blood back from the upper body back into the heart
                        
  • what are the two kinds of circulation?
                        
  • what three chemicals are known today to affect happiness and feelings of well-being
                        
  • what were Darwin's three main ideas?
                        
  • which country owned Angola as a colony?
                        
  • which ventricle has a thicker wall and why?
                        
  • who were the two opposing leaders in China at the end of WWII
                        
  • Calvin was often criticized for not putting enough (FRENCH)
                        
  • God puts himself at our level (FRENCH)
                        
  • I would like to give a few examples (FRENCH)
                        
  • In my opinion (FRENCH)
                        
  • Locke deduces from this the right to revolte (FRENCH)
                        
  • Note that (FRENCH)
                        
  • United Kingdom (FRENCH)
                        
  • a great impact (FRENCH)
                        
  • adverse effects (FRENCH)
                        
  • as it was (FRENCH)
                        
  • as no other priest before him (FRENCH)
                        
  • as some say (FRENCH)
                        
  • endowed with reason (FRENCH)
                        
  • from the beginning (FRENCH)
                        
  • had to rely on (FRENCH)
                        
  • he has particularly highlighted that (FRENCH)
                        
  • he was therefore denied his dignity (FRENCH)
                        
  • in chaines (FRENCH)
                        
  • it depends on the autonomy of the person (FRENCH)
                        
  • it soothes the wrath of God (FRENCH)
                        
  • losely related (FRENCH)
                        
  • subject to public power (FRENCH)
                        
  • subject to the laws of nature (FRENCH)
                        
  • the pursuit of happiness (FRENCH)
                        
  • there are many challenges to face (FRENCH)
                        
  • there remains a kind of distance (FRENCH)
                        
  • they go hand in hand (FRENCH)
                        
  • this is his first concern (FRENCH)
                        
  • violates (FRENCH)
                        
  • what does this mean for the state of nature? (FRENCH)
                        
  • where they appeared (FRENCH)
                        
  • yet when he asks... (FRENCH)
                        
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
•
the state of the world in 1945
•
countries that have been completely defeated
•
Germany
•
ideologies that have been completely discredited
•
Nazism... view all notes
Vocabulary:
ambivalent, adj. simultaneously experiencing or expressing opposing or contradictory feelings, beliefs, or motivations ⇒ "The image of Sukarno on the cover of Time Magazine is ambivalent, do you sympathize with this man, or are you afraid of him?"
People:
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
British economist whose ideas have fundamentally informed the economic policies of governments
  • overturned older ideas that held that free markets would, in the short to medium term, automatically provide full employment, as long as workers were flexible in their wage demands
Sukarno (1901-1967)
The leader of Indonesia's struggle for independence from the Netherlands
  • spent over a decade under Dutch detention until released by the invading Japanese forces
  • in office from 1945 to 1967
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Chinese Communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People's Republic of China
  • his Marxist-Leninist theories, military strategies and political policies are collectively known as Maoism
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
First Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics for much of the 20th century
  • in office from 1947-1964
  • considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state: a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
CALVIN: HISTOIRE ET RÉCEPTION D'UNE RÉFORME, Université de Genève
•
toute la création raconte la gloire et la bonté de Dieu
•
gloire et bonté sont ces qualités de Dieu et vont de pair
•
Dieu est celui qui crée et qui donne la vie bien entendu
•
son amour est encore plus grand que l'amour d'une mère pour son enfant
•
Dieu est la bonté même... view all notes
Vocabulary:
oisif, adj. inactif, désoeuvré, qui est sans occupation, sans travail ⇒ "La création, elle est continuellement maintenue, Dieu ne devient pas oisif après avoir créé le Monde."
désuet, adj. [day-soo-AY] démodé, qui n'est plus en usage ⇒ "Piété, un mot vraiment désuet pour nous, qu'entend Calvin par ce mot?"
semence, n. graine ou noyau, qui peut donner un nouveau végétal (la) ⇒ "Il y a une semence de religion plantée en nous, en tous, par l'inspiration secrète de Dieu. Mais, car il y a un mais, très peu d'êtres humains nourrissent cette semence en leur cœur pour la faire bien germer."
Monday, May 5, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION AUX DROITS DE L'HOMME, Université de Genève
•
la dignité humaine est une, voire la valeur fondatrice des droits de l'homme
•
le préambule de la Charte des Nations Unies
•
se réfère à la dignité et la valeur de la personne humaine
•
résolution 41/120
•
il s'oppose à un autre concept, celui du mérite... view all notes
Vocabulary:
découler, v. résulter, s'ensuivre inéluctablement, comme l'eau qui coule toujours vers le point le plus bas ⇒ "De ce que je viens de dire découle pour Kant une distinction fondamentale : Kant distingue, donc, entre les êtres raisonnables d'une part et les autres êtres, ou des objets, des instruments."
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
•
conflicts in postwar nation building
•
Germany
•
divided up into military zones of occupation
•
no separate East and West Germany yet, just different zones occupied by different armies
•
Soviet Union... view all notes
People:
Zhou Enlai (1898-1976)
First Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976
  • served under Mao Zedong
  • consolidated the control of the Communist Party
  • formed foreign policy
  • developed the Chinese economy
  • met with George Marshall as the Communist representative in 1946
Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986)
A Soviet politician, diplomat, and Old Bolshevik, leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s into the 1950s
  • rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin
  • dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev
  • was the principal Soviet signatory of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939
Friday, May 9, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
BUDDHISM AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY , Princeton University
•
feelings and emotions from the perspective of Buddhism
•
how can meditation change the way you view your feelings?
•
when you are angry or have a great emotion, you grasp that feeling of anger as real
•
but when you meditate or contemplate on those sensations: anger, fear, or anxiety, you experience these feelings of anger as not real, not concrete
•
in our daily hectic lives, we experience emotions as real, but it is like a movie which seems real to you when watched at a certain speed, but when you meditate you come to a slower, more peaceful speed in which you can see the same movie as a series of frames and you realized that these emotions are not real... view all notes
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
•
traditionally throughout history, the social order, no matter what it looked like, was hard and rigid
•
order implied stability and continuity
•
swift social revolutions were rare and exceptional
•
most transformations in human society came about from the accumulation of numerous small steps over decades and centuries
•
people generally believed that their particular social structure was inflexible and eternal... view all notes
People:
Lech Wałęsa (1943-)
Polish trade-union organizer, human-rights activist, and charismatic leader who co-founded Solidarity, then President of Poland from 1990-1995
  • Solidarity was the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union
  • won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
•
last few decades have been characterized by the peaceful collapse of the European empires
•
these empires have been replaced by dozens of new independent states
•
this could have created new opportunities for wars between all of these new, independent states
•
since 1945, however, states generally don't forcibly invade other states anymore as they have throughout history
•
such conquests have been the basis of political history since the beginning of states and kings up to the middle of the 20th century... view all notes
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
UNDERSTANDING RUSSIANS: CONTEXTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, Higher School of Economics
•
Russians are very proud of their culture, their nation, their history
•
this is a, of course, complicated statement and not always true
•
but this pride in culture, nation, and history is a serious component of being Russian
•
true for other cultures as well
•
cultures make us emotional, not an object that we study away from us... view all notes
Friday, May 16, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN: THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE, The University of Chicago
•
story: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
•
the editor of Elle, leading fashion magazine of France
•
was driving and had a sudden, massive stroke in his brain stem
•
left him paralyzed
•
couldn't point... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
CALVIN: HISTOIRE ET RÉCEPTION D'UNE RÉFORME, Université de Genève
•
la question de l'identité et de l'oeuvre de Jésus Christ
•
c'est la question centrale en théologie chrétienne
•
cettes deux thèmes sont les deux grandes thématiques de la christologie de Calvin et de bon nombre d'autres théologiennes et théologiens
•
pour Calvin
•
Jésus le Christ est le rédempteur... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
•
Marshall Plan
•
the name was deliberate because George Marshall was considerably more popular than Harry Truman
•
would raise the odds of getting it through congress
•
but it was a team effort:
•
Dean Acheson... view all notes
Vocabulary:
cashmere, n. a soft fabric made from downy wool from beneath the outer hair of the Cashmere goat ⇒ "After being paralyzed by a stroke, Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote in his book that he penned by blinking his left eye to a typist, "I'm glad I got my own clothes back, because if I have to drool, I want to drool on cashmere.""
laryngeal, adj. [lar-IN-jel] pertaining to the larynx ⇒ "He couldn't speak, he couldn't move his laryngeal muscles."
People:
Robert Schuman (1886-1963)
A founder of the European Union, twice Prime Minister of France, Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister
  • arrested by Nazis, saved by lawyer from being sent to Dachau
  • joined French Resistance
  • always argued that European reconciliation that must take place after the end of hostilities
Jean Monnet (1888-1979)
French political economist and diplomat, regarded as a chief architect of European unity
  • never elected to public office
  • a well-connected pragmatic internationalist
Dean Acheson (1893-1971)
Secretary of State in Truman administration, helped design the Marshall Plan
  • helped develop Truman Doctrine (support Greece and Turkey) and NATO
  • convinced Truman to intervene in Korean War in June 1950
George Kennan (1904-2005)
American political scientists, the "father of containment"
  • his writing inspired the Truman Doctrine
  • leading authority of the Cold War
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
UNDERSTANDING RUSSIANS: CONTEXTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, Higher School of Economics
•
intercultural communication history
•
brought about by the practical demands of the second half of the 20th century world
•
the discipline emerged as a response to practical demands
•
our world is the world of globalization
•
trade across borders... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
•
much of humankind today enjoy a wealth that used to be the stuff of fantasies and fairy tales
•
science and the industrial revolution have given humans superhuman powers and practically limitless energy
•
many aspects of human life have been completely transformed
•
the social order
•
daily life... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION AUX DROITS DE L'HOMME, Université de Genève
•
la dignité reste un concept assez abstrait
•
il ne nous fournit pas une liste concrète des droits de l'homme
•
les droits de l'homme ont été définis d'une façon négative à traverse expériences concrètes de violations et d'injustices
•
ils sont des réponses concrètes à des expériences d'injustices
•
cinq exemples historiques... view all notes
Vocabulary:
proxemics, n. the interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture, a subcategory of the study of nonverbal communication along with haptics (touch), kinesics (body movement), vocalics (paralanguage), and chronemics (structure of time) ⇒ "Edward T. Hall is remembered for developing the concept of proxemics, a description of how people behave and react in different types of culturally defined personal space."
People:
Cyrus le Grand (559-530 BC)
Le fondateur de l’Empire perse
  • son règne a été marqué par des conquêtes d'une ampleur sans précédent historique
Ashoka (304-232 BC)
Le troisième empereur de la dynastie indienne des Maurya, qui adopte les principes non violents du bouddhisme
  • son père était Bindusara
  • l'empire d'Ashoka s'étend de l'actuel Afghanistan jusqu'au Bengale
Akbar (1542-1605)
En persan qui dirige l'Empire moghol de 1556 jusqu'en 1605
  • considéré comme le plus grand Moghol
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE KENNEDY HALF CENTURY, University of Virginia
•
after 1960 nominating convention, Kennedy turned to convincing the American people to elect him
•
Kennedy was popular with the young
•
elderly were interested in his support of a national health insurance for the aged
•
picked Lyndon Johnson as running mate
•
over objections from his brother Bobby... view all notes
People:
Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
Pope from 1963-1978, continued the Second Vatican Council, improved relations with Eastern Orthodox Church and Protestants
  • succeeded Pope John XXIII
Monday, May 19, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD SINCE 1300, Princeton University
•
Ming China (1368-1644)
•
China recovered from Mongol conquests and Black Death in the 13th century with the creation of the Ming Dynasty
•
became a major importer of silver
•
from mines in Japan
•
trade through Manila... view all notes
Vocabulary:
galleon, n. a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries ⇒ "With the opening of trade through Manila and the arrival of the Manila galleon from the New World, we begin to see the direct tie from the mines of the Andes and Mexico to Chinese demand."
lacquerware, n. objects decoratively covered with a clear or colored wood finish that dries by solvent evaporation or a curing process that produces a hard, durable finish, sometimes inlaid or carved ⇒ "With the increased use of silver and the growing economy, the Ming upper-class took an interest in new products such as lacquerware from Japan."
People:
Wang Yangming (1472-1529)
A Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general during the Ming dynasty
  • believed each moral virtue is naturally embedded within each person, but they have to be cultivated
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
VITAL SIGNS: UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE BODY IS TELLING US, The University of Pennsylvania
•
heart located right below sternum
•
between two lungs
•
in thoracic cavity
•
enclosed by a membrane layer called the pericardium
•
lungs are also surrounded by membrane layers... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE MODERN WORLD: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1760, University of Virginia
•
two revolutionary models forming in Asia
•
1. Guomindang (GMD)
•
also known as: Kuomintang (KMT)
•
Chinese Nationalist Party
•
current ruling political party in Taiwan... view all notes
Vocabulary:
phrenic nerve, n. a nerve that originates in the neck and passes down between the lung and heart to reach the diaphragm, it is important for breathing ⇒ "The phrenic nerve is the sole motor supply to each hemidiaphragm."
mediastinum, n. [may-dee-AST-ri-num] region in mammals between the pleural sacs, containing the heart and all of the thoracic viscera except the lungs (vessels of the heart, esophagus, trachea, phrenic nerve, cardiac nerve, thoracic duct, lymph nodes of the central chest) ⇒ "Lesions in the posterior mediastinum may encroach on the esophagus, causing dysphagia or odynophagia."
etiology, n. the study of causation, or origination ⇒ "With infectious etiologies, a widened mediastinum is a classic hallmark sign of anthrax infection."
firebrand, n. person who stirs up trouble or kindles a revolt ⇒ "Mao Zedong, the young firebrand."
People:
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975)
Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 1928 and 1975
  • took Sun's place as leader of the KMT (Kuomintang) when Sun died in 1925
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Chinese Communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People's Republic of China
  • governed China fro 1949-1976
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)
Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China
  • in the ROC (Republic of China, Taiwan) he is referred to as Father of the Nation
  • played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the years leading up to the Double Ten Revolution (Xinhai Revolution of 1911)
Albert Coady Wedemeyer (1897-1989)
United States Army commander who assumed command of U.S. forces in China during World War II
  • was also named Chief of Staff to the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
  • provided the Wedemeyer report which Marshall quashed
  • was a chief supporter of the Berlin Airlift
  • as a U.S. officer, he was appointed to the German war college Kriegsakademie in Berlin, 1936-38, and was included in 1938 German maneuvers, which gave him unique insight into German tactical operations
Friday, May 23, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
HUMAN EVOLUTION: PAST AND FUTURE, University of Wisconsin
•
what is evolution?
•
evolution means in Latin "evolutio", or, "unrolling"
•
in everyday language we use the word evolve in many ways, e.g. attitudes evolve, the earth evolves, ideas evolve, our solar system evolves
•
however, biologists are much more specific in using the term evolve
•
not every kind of biological change is an evolutionary change... view all notes
Vocabulary:
phenotype, n. the composite of an organism's observable characteristics or traits, such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, phrenology, behavior, and products of behavior (such as a bird's nest) ⇒ "An organism's genotype is the set of genes that it carries. An organism's phenotype is all of its observable characteristics—which are influenced both by its genotype and by the environment."
nucleotide, n. nucleotides are organic molecules that serve as the subunits of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA, and carry packets of energy within the cell (ATP), and play an important role in metabolism ⇒ "The human genome consists of 3 billion nucleotides."
somatic, adj. of, relating to, or affecting the body, corporeal, physical, especially as distinguished from the mind or the environment ⇒ "Objects like a basketball, a jet or a piano play a role in somatic cognition that is similar to the role of words in conscious thought."
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
VILLES AFRICAINES: LA PLANIFICATION URBAINE, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
•
il y a une nécessité de planifier la ville
•
de manière spontanée, la ville ne se développe pas de manière rationnelle
•
l’ensemble des stratégies, des tactiques individuelles, ne forment pas une ville mais forment un ensemble de stratégies
•
pour intégrer les populations, intégrer les activités, les services, les infrastructures au sein d'un même espace
•
mais aussie comme la ville Détroit, aux États-Unis, qui a une population qui diminue, et la gestion doit se faire de manière tout aussi efficace puisque, il faut gérer une décroissance... view all notes
Monday, May 26, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
INTRODUCTION AUX DROITS DE L'HOMME, Université de Genève
•
on entend par droits de l'homme des droits qui sont garantis par le droit international
•
c'est d'abord au niveau national qu'ils ont fait apparition
•
le siècle des Lumières a été une époque cruciale pour l'émergence des droits de l'homme
•
la naissance des droits de l'homme au siècle des Lumières est étroitement liée à la théorie du droit naturel
•
dans la pensée scolastique, le droit naturel était fortement imprégné par la religion, et il mettait plus en avant les devoirs... view all notes
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST, Tel Aviv University
•
groups as the components of societies rather than individuals
•
Malcom Yapp, 1923: "Middle Eastern society is composed of various groups whose relationship to each other is like that of pieces in a mosaic. Government recognized the existence of these groups and dealt with them in different ways. There was no assumption that society was composed of individuals who should be treated in a uniform fashion, rather different groups had different rights and interests and required to be governed in different ways."
•
different groups were based on:
•
family
•
extended family... view all notes
Vocabulary:
jizyah, n. in 19th century Islamic law, a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim subjects, a material proof of the non-Muslims' acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws, in return, non-Muslim subjects were permitted to practice their faith, to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy, to be entitled to the Muslim state's protection from outside aggression, and to be exempted from military service and from the zakat tax levied upon Muslim citizens ⇒ "The jizya continued to be applied in Persia and many North African countries into the 19th century, but almost vanished in the 20th century. The tax is no longer imposed in the Islamic world. In the 21st century, it is widely regarded as being at odds with contemporary secular conceptions of citizen's civil rights and equality before the law."
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
THE BIBLE'S PREHISTORY, PURPOSE, AND POLITICAL FUTURE, Emory University
•
the history of Israel is a history of defeat and the response to defeat
•
most concretely, the military and political catastrophe in which the states of Isreal and Judah were destroyed by Assyrians and Babylonians
•
Israel (9th century BC - 722 BC)
•
fell to Neo-Assyrian Empire
•
Judah (8th century BC - 586 BC)... view all notes
People:
Sir Flinders Petrie (1853-1942)
English Egyptologist who discovered the Merneptah Stele (earliest text about Canaan), an inscription by the Egyptian king Merneptah from 1213 BC at Thebes
  • pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and preservation of artifacts
  • developed the system of dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Watched and took notes on MOOC lecture:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
•
many theories of happiness base happiness on material factors like health, diet, and wealth
•
however, many theories of happiness include social, ethical, and spiritual factors as well
•
in recent decades, psychologists, economists, biologists have taken up the challenge of scientifically studying what makes people happy, and through that, understanding the dynamics of happiness in society throughout history
•
are people made happy by money? family relationships? by genetics? by their virtues and good deeds?
•
if we don't have an exact definition of happiness and a way to measure it, then we can't study it scientifically... view all notes
Vocabulary:
serotonin, n. [ser-i-TOHN-in] a neurotransmitter primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets (cellular element in blood), and the central nervous system of animals, including humans, and is popularly thought to be a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness ⇒ "Research on the association between various polymorphisms and depression supports the idea that serotonin plays a role, not only in the treatment of depression but also in susceptibility to depression and suicide."
dopamine, n. [DOH-pah-meen] a neurotransmitter i n the brain which plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior ⇒ "Most types of reward increase the level of dopamine in the brain, and a variety of addictive drugs increase dopamine neuronal activity."
oxytocin, n. [ahk-see-TOH-sin] a mammalian hormone produced by the hypothalamus and secreted by the posterior pituitary gland, playing an important role in the neuroanatomy of intimacy, specifically in sexual reproduction, in particular during and after childbirth, fascilitating birth and maternal bonding ⇒ "Oxytocin is sometimes referred to as "the bonding hormone"."
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