What's It All About?
Philosophy & the Meaning of Life
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"Secular-minded readers seeking an alternative to The Purpose-Driven Life have an excellent starting point here."—Publishers Weekly
For readers who are serious about confronting the big issues in life—but are turned off by books which deal with them through religion, spirituality, or psychobabble, this is an honest, intelligent discussion by a philosopher that doesn't hide from the difficulties or make undeliverable promises. It aims to help the reader understand the overlooked issues behind the obvious questions, and shows how philosophy does not so much answer them as help provide us with the resources to answer them for ourselves.
"Useful and provocative."—The Wall Street Journal
"Looking for a clear guide to what contemporary philosophy has to say about the meaning of life? Baggini takes us through all the plausible answers, weaving together Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, Monty Python, and Funkadelic in an entertaining but always carefully reasoned discussion."—Peter Singer, author of How Are We To Live
"The question of the meaning of life has long been a byword for pretentious rambling. It takes some nerve to tackle it in a brisk and no-nonsense fashion."—New Statesman
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In tackling the meaning of life, Baggini (Atheism: A Very Short Introduction) demonstrates the debate's long and knotty history. Drawing on a wide array of attempts to formulate a theory about life's purpose, he builds a sturdy case for a "framework" readers can use in contemplating the question the title poses. Baggini covers a lot of ground despite the book's slimness: the arguments of thinkers from Aristotle to Nietzsche are successfully distilled, and he usually provides a nuanced discussion of all sides. The book is divided into chapters that consider the merits of six theories about life's meaning, and while Baggini pokes holes in all of them, he also takes elements from each, such as "make every day count" from the section on the carpe diem outlook, to use in his own approach. This structure, as well as his conversational prose, which is peppered with pop culture references to Ozzy Osbourne and the movie Antz, make for easy digestion. Because of the short format, Baggini has to be selective about what he addresses; he ignores or quickly dispatches many theories, beginning with anything religious, so a large number of readers will immediately reject his reasoning. However, secular-minded readers seeking an alternative to The Purpose-Driven Life have an excellent starting point here.
