A Field Guide to a Happy Life
53 Brief Lessons for Living
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A brilliant philosopher reimagines Stoicism for our modern age in this thought-provoking guide to a better life.
For more than two thousand years, Stoicism has offered a message of resilience in the face of hardship. Little wonder, then, that it is having such a revival in our own troubled times. But there is no denying how weird it can be: Is it really the case that we shouldn't care about our work, our loved ones, or our own lives? According to the old Stoics, yes.
In A Field Guide to a Happy Life, philosopher Massimo Pigliucci offers a renewed Stoicism that reflects modern science and sensibilities. Pigliucci embraces the joyful bonds of affection, the satisfactions of a job well done, and the grief that attends loss. In his hands, Stoicism isn't about feats of indifference, but about enduring pain without being overwhelmed, while enjoying pleasures without losing our heads. In short, he makes Stoicism into a philosophy all of us -- whether committed Stoics or simply seekers -- can use to live better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pigliucci (How to Live a Good Life), professor of philosophy at City College of New York, delivers a shrewd take on Stoic philosophy that's one part inspiration and one part manual for cultivating resilience in daily life. Pigliucci advocates for the daily application of the ancient philosophy's four cardinal virtues wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation as an antidote to modern fixations on fame, wealth, and comfort. In his exhortations to readers to simply focus on what they can control, such as one's personal character, Pigliucci focuses particularly on Epictetus (50 135 CE), who started out a slave and ended up a Stoic sage. Applying the tenets of Epictetus's guide to the good life (The Enchiridion) to contemporary issues and sensibilities such as social justice and secularism Pigliucci offers 53 Stoic proverbs applicable to the 21st century ("reorient your likely misguided desires and aversions"; "prepare yourself to behave justly to other people") and a summary of how modern Stoicism differs from that of Epictetus ("do not congratulate yourself for things that don't really belong to you. Do you have a nice car? The merit goes to the engineers who conceived it"). Pigliucci's prudent advice will have broad appeal among philosophically inclined readers of self-help.
