pickThere's much that I found useful in this book. The more I read bits of classical philosophy, the more it seems that the ethical questions raised in the past have bearing on the present. I deeply appreciated how Setiya thinks through the meaning of a good life vs. "the meaning of life", or concepts like atelic & telic activities in terms of living a meaningful life. The text is sprinkled liberally with quotes that inspire you to go to the source.
batsy The main issue is that when I expected Setiya to delve deeper into a philosophical idea or theory, he stops just short. Part of the reason is because he's writing this for a general audience, & I think there's a sense throughout the book that he needs to keep it simple to prevent it from becoming too dense. Because of that, a bit of a self-help vibe creeps into the prose at times & I have a knee-jerk aversion to that. Still, highly recommended. 3w
TrishB I have a knee jerk aversion to self help too! Great review ❤️ 3w
batsy @TrishB Thank you 😘 2w
See All 11 Comments
vivastory Ditto the self-help reaction. I have recently been reading through the tagged book and have had a somewhat similar experience![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
Art Against Despair: Pictures to Battle Sorrow and Restore Hope 2w
Art Against Despair: Pictures to Battle Sorrow and Restore Hopebatsy @vivastory The title is interesting! I read one Alain de Botton book many years ago & his prose does have a tendency to veer into the soothing, self-help tone doesn't it? 😆 2w
charl08 Tempting. I've been reading a lot about grief which has a similar issue - so might wait a bit to pick this up. 2w
batsy @charl08 I hope this will be of some comfort. It's short, and the chapters are also short and concise, so it's easy to juggle this in between other books. 2w
kspenmoll This sounds interesting! 2w
batsy @kspenmoll It is! Mileage may vary with the style but the content of it is likely to be of use to many :) 2w
Centique I definitely need a beginners course in philosophy, so thanks for putting this on my radar! I dabbled a bit in University, but I think it was hit and miss. Seems a good way to question my own philosophies, which have been very much in flux in a post pandemic world 😬 2w
batsy @Centique Yes, if academic philosophy wasn't your cup of tea this might be a more useful introduction! If you do give it a try, I hope you find something worthwhile. He argues back with classical philosophers, too, which is great (and exactly how it should be! Lol) 2w