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Title details for Sick Souls, Healthy Minds by John Kaag - Available

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds

How William James Can Save Your Life

by John Kaag
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From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James
In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled "Is Life Worth Living?" It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man a quarter century earlier. Indeed, as John Kaag writes, "James's entire philosophy, from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life"—and that's why it just might be able to save yours, too. Sick Souls, Healthy Minds is a compelling introduction to James's life and thought that shows why the founder of pragmatism and empirical psychology—and an inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous—can still speak so directly and profoundly to anyone struggling to make a life worth living.
Kaag tells how James's experiences as one of what he called the "sick-souled," those who think that life might be meaningless, drove him to articulate an ideal of "healthy-mindedness"—an attitude toward life that is open, active, and hopeful, but also realistic about its risks. In fact, all of James's pragmatism, resting on the idea that truth should be judged by its practical consequences for our lives, is a response to, and possible antidote for, crises of meaning that threaten to undo many of us at one time or another. Along the way, Kaag also movingly describes how his own life has been endlessly enriched by James.
Eloquent, inspiring, and filled with insight, Sick Souls, Healthy Minds may be the smartest and most important self-help book you'll ever read.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 17, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780691200934

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780691200934
      • File size: 3317 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      January 1, 2020
      A biography and exegesis of William James that serves as self-help for the philosophically inclined. In his latest, Kaag (Philosophy/Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell; Hiking With Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are, 2018, etc.) notes that he began this book worse off than during his two previous philosophical memoirs. He was in the middle of a divorce, "had just watched my estranged, alcoholic father die," and was spending much of his time in bed sleeping and reading James. That activity, however, isn't a symptom of depression the way reading Schopenhauer might be. For Kaag, it proved to be a vital salve. "I think William James's philosophy saved my life. Or, more accurately, it encouraged me to not be afraid of life." If so, it wouldn't be the first life James saved. His entire philosophy, writes the author, "from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life." In this brief treatise, Kaag seeks to "offer the reader James's existential life preserver." This represents something of a formal departure for Kaag. Whereas American Philosophy and Hiking With Nietzsche were philosophical memoirs, this book is self-help philosophy that draws selectively from autobiography. This inversion makes it a more demanding text than its predecessors. If readers are to gather solace from James, it will come only from joining Kaag in thinking through his philosophy: responding to the challenge of scientific determinism; reflecting on the paradox of James' famous assertion that "my first act of free will shall be to believe in free will"; and attempting to pluck the thorn of relativism from pragmatism's side. Luckily, Kaag's reading of James is as elucidating as readers have come to expect from him. Once again, he writes in a clear, focused, and winningly self-aware style that makes friends of James and himself for anyone who wonders if life is worth living. A book in which Kaag further carves out his niche in philosophy: personal, practical, and crucial.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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