Reddit reviews The Good Life (Hackett Publishing Co.)

The primary text for the introduction to philosophy course is this one: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Life-Hackett-Publishing-Co/dp/0872204383/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458874442&sr=1-1&keywords=good+life+guignon

The primary text for the philosophy of law course is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Justice-Reader-Michael-J-Sandel/dp/0195335120

Both texts are supplemented with additional readings, lecture viewings, etc.

Let me save you time and money. There are lots of good readings in this anthology on the good life by Charles Guignon. And it looks like you can get it cheap if you buy used. I love teaching this book.

Also, Epicureanism isn't easy to combat. Not in its strict form as the Epicureans actually practiced it. Read "Letter to Menoeceus." Epicureanism basically says that the goal of life is to make sense of the universe, which helps you not to be afraid of death or fortune. Happiness, foremost, is about avoiding bodily pains and psychological anxieties. Then, it's a matter of savoring the simplest pleasures in life. Epicureans think that if you're thirsty and hungry, a banquet of water and barley cakes is about as good as it gets. And if you're feeling sexually frustrated, you should masturbate. If you can get better things (wine, cake, sex), fine. But you never ever pursue those if they give you more to worry about or take your focus away from what matters.

I have to recommend [The Good Life] (http://www.amazon.com/Good-Life-Hackett-Publishing-Co/dp/0872204383/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322329443&sr=1-1) -- it covers the pre-Socratics through some of the contemporaries. Excellent intro text, and should help show you which areas of philosophy you'd like to explore further.

Eudaimonic Ethics is an area you might research, especially the volume of that name by Lorraine Besser.

Charles Guignon's The Good Life is also a place to look.