What Would Nietzsche Do?: Philosophical Solutions to Everyday Problems

A new series of advice from the great philosophers on how to live an authentic life.

This book gives readers a peek into the minds of history's great thinkers, in this case, Friedrich Nietzsche and other philosophers that have considered life's most challenging dilemmas. The book asks these luminaries for their advice with the problems that threaten our contentment and beliefs and also provides a fascinating overview of the many branches of philosophical study.

The book has five sections of questions that any of us might ask and which, whether mundane or disturbing, do cause existential distress. Some examples are:

1. Relationships
Should I tell my partner that I kissed someone at the office party
I just found out that my dad is not my dad
My partner is cheating on me -- what should I do
My mother smacked me once -- it's all her fault

2. Self and identity
Everyone thinks of me differently -- so who the hell am I
Why shouldn't I do whatever I want
How do I become one of the good guys
Do I have to be a different person now that I'm a parent
I'm nearly 50 -- now what

3. How to live
Why should I be good
How can I be happy
Is it OK to hurt others on my way to a big promotion
Should I buy a bigger TV

4. Art and aesthetics
I think my partner is beautiful but my best friend doesn't agree
What's artistic about a can of soup
Should I enhance my looks with plastic surgery
What's so beautiful about nature

5. Politics
Why should I pay for someone else to get free healthcare
Should I leave the toilet seat up or down
I once got robbed, and now I'm too scared to walk the streets
Why can't I decide who to vote for.

Life is not simple and it is certainly not without many ethical and moral challenges to which we respond sometimes with intellect and other times with emotion. It can all be a bit much. Now a reader need only turn to the question troubling them and Nietzsche, along with Aristotle, Hobbes, Schopenhauer and other great thinkers, will tell you what they think.

Marcus Weeks is the author of the '...In Minutes' series. He is also the author of How Many Molehills in a Mountain?: Measuring What You Don't Know in Terms of What You Do and Music: A Crash Course, and has contributed to many titles including The Philosophy Book, the Millennium Encyclopedia, and both Science and Art in 'The Definitive Visual Guide' series.