Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Setiya, Kieran

ISBN 10: 0593538218 / ISBN 13: 9780593538210

Published by Riverhead Books, 2022

About this Item

A well-loved companion. Corners and cover might show a little wear, and you could find some notes or highlights. The dust jacket might be MIA, it might have been a library book and extras aren't guaranteedâ but the story's all there!

Seller Inventory # PKV.0593538218.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593538218
• ISBN 13: 9780593538210
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER AND THE ECONOMIST

“Life Is Hard is a humane consolation for challenging times. Reading it is like speaking with a thoughtful friend who never tells you to cheer up, but, by offering gentle companionship and a change of perspective, makes you feel better anyway.” —The New York Times Book Review

There is no cure for the human condition: life is hard. But Kieran Setiya believes philosophy can help. He offers us a map for navigating rough terrain, from personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world. 

In this profound and personal book, Setiya shows how the tools of philosophy can help us find our way. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy as well as fiction, history, memoir, film, comedy, social science, and stories from Setiya’s own experience, Life Is Hard is a book for this moment—a work of solace and compassion.

Warm, accessible, and good-humored, this book is about making the best of a bad lot. It offers guidance for coping with pain and making new friends, for grieving the lost and failing with grace, for confronting injustice and searching for meaning in life. Countering pop psychologists and online influencers who admonish us to “find our bliss” and “live our best lives,” Setiya acknowledges that the best is often out of reach. Instead, he asks how we can weather life’s adversities, finding hope and living well when life is hard.

About the Author

Kieran Setiya is a professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times, the Boston Review, the London Review of Books, The Atlantic, and The Yale Review.