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Live Like A Philosopher: What the Ancient Greeks and Romans Can Teach Us About Living a Happy Life
A wide-ranging philosophical and practical guide to incorporating the wisdom of ancient philosophers into daily modern life.
How can I live a good life? Who do I want to become? And how do I get there?
These are some of life's biggest questions. But they can be hard to think through. Fortunately, a group of philosophers from ancient Greece and Rome have already done a lot of the heavy lifting. Drawing on the philosophies, life lessons and experiences of key thinkers, Live Like a Philosopher will help you navigate these existential waters with invaluable insights for modern life.
From finding balance with Aristotle and embracing uncertainty with Carneades, to avoiding pain with Epicurus and learning how to question everything with Socrates, this is a powerful toolkit to help you navigate the highs and lows of modern life. Organized around three main themes of pleasure, character, and doubt, there's something to learn from each master in this philosophical quest. Live Like a Philosopher is the helping hand we all need to make life better.
How can I live a good life? Who do I want to become? And how do I get there?
These are some of life's biggest questions. But they can be hard to think through. Fortunately, a group of philosophers from ancient Greece and Rome have already done a lot of the heavy lifting. Drawing on the philosophies, life lessons and experiences of key thinkers, Live Like a Philosopher will help you navigate these existential waters with invaluable insights for modern life.
From finding balance with Aristotle and embracing uncertainty with Carneades, to avoiding pain with Epicurus and learning how to question everything with Socrates, this is a powerful toolkit to help you navigate the highs and lows of modern life. Organized around three main themes of pleasure, character, and doubt, there's something to learn from each master in this philosophical quest. Live Like a Philosopher is the helping hand we all need to make life better.
Audible Audio
Published January 7, 2025
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About the author
Massimo Pigliucci
90 books1,170 followersMassimo Pigliucci is an author, blogger, podcaster, as well as the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York.
His academic work is in evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophy. His books include How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books) and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (University of Chicago Press).
His new book is Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (The Experiment).
His academic work is in evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophy. His books include How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books) and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (University of Chicago Press).
His new book is Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers (The Experiment).
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February 1, 2025
‘What the Ancient Greeks and Romans can Teach Us About Living a Happy Life’.
What makes for a happy life?
The attempts to answer this question have led to many a ‘philosophy of life’.
One can imagine why determining what can make a person happy may be seen as dependent on one’s view of the right way to live - pursuing the right things, avoiding the wrong ones - one’s view of how the world works, and how humans fit into it, and (most importantly) how it is that one should live.
Choosing (or developing) a philosophy of life - a framework guiding one’s thoughts, attitudes, and actions - can provide one with a set of principles with which to align one’s goals, which can make a significant contribution to the strength of one’s sense of meaning in life.
In Live Like a Philosopher, the authors provide the rationale behind the answer to the question of how to live a good life from the perspective of each of 13 Greco-Roman philosophies. They also provide the reader - or the listener, for those using the audiobook - with a set of exercises (roughly a week’s worth of them, for each philosophy) to determine whether or not they would like to adopt a given philosophy as a way of life.
What makes for a happy life?
The attempts to answer this question have led to many a ‘philosophy of life’.
One can imagine why determining what can make a person happy may be seen as dependent on one’s view of the right way to live - pursuing the right things, avoiding the wrong ones - one’s view of how the world works, and how humans fit into it, and (most importantly) how it is that one should live.
Choosing (or developing) a philosophy of life - a framework guiding one’s thoughts, attitudes, and actions - can provide one with a set of principles with which to align one’s goals, which can make a significant contribution to the strength of one’s sense of meaning in life.
In Live Like a Philosopher, the authors provide the rationale behind the answer to the question of how to live a good life from the perspective of each of 13 Greco-Roman philosophies. They also provide the reader - or the listener, for those using the audiobook - with a set of exercises (roughly a week’s worth of them, for each philosophy) to determine whether or not they would like to adopt a given philosophy as a way of life.
Displaying 1 of 1 review