What Do You Want Out of Life?
A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $19.99
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
A short guide to living well by understanding better what you really value—and what to do when your goals conflict
What do you want out of life? To make a lot of money—or work for justice? To run marathons—or sing in a choir? To have children—or travel the world? The things we care about in life—family, friendship, leisure activities, work, our moral ideals—often conflict, preventing us from doing what matters most to us. Even worse, we don’t always know what we really want, or how to define success. Blending personal stories, philosophy, and psychology, this insightful and entertaining book offers invaluable advice about living well by understanding your values and resolving the conflicts that frustrate their fulfillment.
Valerie Tiberius introduces you to a way of thinking about your goals that enables you to reflect on them effectively throughout your life. She illustrates her approach with vivid examples, many of which are drawn from her own life, ranging from the silly to the serious, from shopping to navigating prejudice. Throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness, reminding us of the profound influence other people have on our lives, our goals, and how we should pursue them. At the same time, the book offers strategies for coping with obstacles to realizing your goals, including gender bias and other kinds of discrimination.
Whether you are changing jobs, rethinking your priorities, or reconsidering your whole life path, What Do You Want Out of Life? is an essential guide to helping you understand what really matters to you and how you can thoughtfully pursue it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This accessible guide by philosophy professor Tiberius (Well-Being as Value Fulfillment) ponders "how we should think through our choices, goals, and values in the face of continual change." Tiberius encourages readers to interrogate why they have the principles they do and suggests one gains clarity by introspecting, imagining their ideal future, or examining what activities make them happy in a similar way to how researchers interpret lab rats' responses to stimuli. Life goals often clash, she warns, as when the desire to advance one's career comes at the cost of spending time with loved ones, and she offers strategies to resolve such conflicts: prioritize between goals, give up one of them, or reinterpret what achieving those goals looks like. Tiberius convincingly maintains that though the self-reflective capacity of the human mind may seem like a burden, it is a blessing because, unlike other animals, humans are able to change what matters to them and how. Her plain-language approach grounds the philosophical advice, as do the author's lighthearted personal examples, one of which highlights competing values by describing how the author's love of cheesecake runs counter to the value she places in her physical health. Entertaining and smart, this is philosophy for people who don't usually like philosophy.
