Equals - Softcover

Phillips, Adam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465056806 ISBN 13: 9780465056804

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

Written in his beloved epigrammatic and aphoristic style, Equals extends Adam Phillips's probings into the psychological and the political, bringing his trenchant wit to such subjects as the usefulness of inhibitions and the paradox of permissive authority. He explores why citizens in a democracy are so eager to establish levels of hierarchy when the system is based on the assumption that every man is created equal. And he ponders the importance of mockery in group behavior, and the psyche's struggle as a metaphor for political conflict.

About this title

About the Author:

Adam Phillips has been called "the closest thing we have to a philosopher of happiness." Formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London, Phillips is the author of such works as Winnicott; On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored; Monogamy; On Flirtation; Terror and Experts; Darwin's Worms; Promises, Promises; and Houdini's Box.

From Publishers Weekly:

Though Equals is psychoanalyst-essayist Adam Phillips's (On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored) attempt to branch out into political thinking, the best essays in the collection, many of which have been previously published, are the ones about Freud and his followers. Particular standouts include "Around and About Madness," in which Phillips argues that "madness like what we call pornography is that which we cannot remain indifferent to," and his reviews of John Lanchester's Mr Phillips ("that hitherto unthinkable, almost absurd thing, a great English Existential novel") and Ray Monk's biography of Bertrand Russell.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0465056806
• ISBN 13: 9780465056804
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224