Why We Are Restless (eBook)

On the Modern Quest for Contentment

Benjamin Storey, Jenna Silber Storey (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
264 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-21113-8 (ISBN)

Infos

A compelling exploration of how our pursuit of happiness makes us unhappyWe live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet everywhere we see signs that our pursuit of happiness has proven fruitless. Dissatisfied, we seek change for the sake of change-even if it means undermining the foundations of our common life. In Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey offer a profound and beautiful reflection on the roots of this malaise and examine how we might begin to cure ourselves.Drawing on the insights of Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, Why We Are Restless explores the modern vision of happiness that leads us on, and the disquiet that follows it like a lengthening shadow. In the sixteenth century, Montaigne articulated an original vision of human life that inspired people to see themselves as individuals dedicated to seeking contentment in the here and now, but Pascal argued that we cannot find happiness through pleasant self-seeking, only anguished God-seeking. Rousseau later tried and failed to rescue Montaigne's worldliness from Pascal's attack. Steeped in these debates, Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 and, observing a people "e;restless in the midst of their well-being,"e; discovered what happens when an entire nation seeks worldly contentment-and finds mostly discontent.Arguing that the philosophy we have inherited, despite pretending to let us live as we please, produces remarkably homogenous and unhappy lives, Why We Are Restless makes the case that finding true contentment requires rethinking our most basic assumptions about happiness.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.4.2021
• Reihe/Serie: New Forum Books
• Reihe/Serie: New Forum Books
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
• Schlagworte: Alexis de Tocqueville • americans • Anguish • Anxiety • Approbation • aristocracy • Atheism • Autobiography • Blaise Pascal • Brad Wilson (politician) • Cambridge University Press • Career • Christianity • classical education • Conscience • contentment • Copyright • Cornucopian • critique • David Gauthier • Decadence • deed • Democracy • democracy in America • Depression • Diana Schaub • discourse on inequality • Disgust • Elites • Eloquence • Epictetus • ethics • evocation • formality • freedom of speech • French Philosophy • Furman University • God • Good Life • greatness • Harvard University Press • hatred • History of Philosophy • hostility • Hyperactivity • ideal of happiness • Immanence • immanent contentment • Individualism • indulgence • Institution • Intellectual • Irony • Jansenism • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • John Locke • Lecture • Liah Greenfeld • Liberal Education • Liberalism • Lightness (philosophy) • Marc Fumaroli • Mark Lilla • Materialism • Meaning of life • Mercer University • Michel de Montaigne • middle class • Modernity • Modern Paganism • Moralist • Morality • National Endowment for the Humanities • Natural Religion • Nobility • Old Book (ghost) • On Religion • Oppression • Paradox of choice • parlement • pessimism • Philosopher • Philosophy • Pierre Manent • Pierre Nicole • Political Philosophy • Political Science • Political System • Politics • Pragmatism • Princeton University • Princeton University Press • Protestantism • purpose of life • Pursuit of Happiness • reason • Religion • Religious War • Richard Finn • roots of modernity • self • Self-Image • Selfishness • Self-knowledge (psychology) • self-love • Self-Sufficiency • skepticism • Slavery • Society of Jesus • Suffering • Theology • The Philosopher • Thought • treatise • unhappiness • University of Chicago Press • Wealth • Welfare State • what is happiness • Writing • Yuval Levin
• ISBN-10: 0-691-21113-2 / 0691211132
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-21113-8 / 9780691211138