Category: ethics

• January 22, 2011

  Is therapy a waste of time (and money)?

  The answer, according to the psychiatrist Richard Friedman in his recent NYT op-ed entitled “When Self-Knowledge is Only the Beginning,” might very well be “yes.” In the article, he argues (1) that insight into one’s past may be neither necessary nor sufficient for living well and, more polemically, (2) that such insight might actually make your…
• January 21, 2011

  On the category of emerging adulthood; or, how 20 somethings are wasting their lives

  A Polemic There’s been a lot of talk of late about 20 somethings. Discussions have ranged from their carnivorous tastes in social media to their open attitude toward sexuality to their desire for self-esteem. By my lights, the most interesting discussion has centered on a new category of individual development: emerging adulthood. According to Jeffrey…
• January 20, 2011

  Reason follows in fortune’s train

  “Fortune is often found in Reason’s train.” Montaigne, Essays   For years, I’ve been stuck. I haven’t been able to make much progress in my estimation of the relative merits of Stoicism and tragedy. One of the goals of Stoicism is to immunize the practicing Stoic against luck (tuche). Since external goods are beyond his…
• January 20, 2011

  Alain de Botton discusses what Montaigne says about self-esteem
• January 20, 2011

  Philosophy as the art of consolation

  When you hear the word “philosophy,” what comes to mind? Doubting everything? Useless exchanges that seem to go nowhere? Theoretical investigations of topics divorced from the business of everyday life? These ideas have been around for ages, but the one that Romans and Greeks found most appealing is also the one that’s long been out of circulation. It’s…