(Text by Sonya Savkar)

HONG KONG, October 8, 2016 — Philosopher, professor and director of education at the Positive Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania, James O. Pawelski, enlightened and intrigued with his interactive talk on the science of well-being, also known as positive psychology, and how it’s empirical methods can be used to study the “eudaimonic,” or “human flourishing” value of the arts and humanities in both Eastern and Western cultures. Dr. Pawelski asked the audience to imagine a world without literature, music, art or movies, and to reflect on a fundamental principle of positive psychology: by focusing only on problems, we miss opportunities. (1 hr., 18 min.)