Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Why We Are Restless : On the Modern Quest for Contentment / Jenna Silber Storey, Benjamin Storey.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: New Forum Books ; 69Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©2021Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691211138
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 170/.44 23
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Prologue We Restless Souls -- Introduction Four French Thinkers on the Modern Quest for Contentment -- Chapter 1 Montaigne: The Art of Ordinary Life -- Chapter 2 Pascal: The Inhumanity of Immanence -- Chapter 3 Rousseau: The Tragedy of Nature’s Redeemer -- Chapter 4 Tocqueville: Democracy and the Naked Soul -- Conclusion Liberal Education and the Art of Choosing -- Acknowledgments -- Suggested Readings -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: A beautifully written exploration of how the way we pursue happiness makes us unhappyWe live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet everywhere we see signs that our pursuit of happiness has proven fruitless. Dissatisfied, we seek change for the sake of change—even if it means undermining the foundations of our common life. In Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey offer a profound and beautiful reflection on the roots of this malaise and examine how we might begin to cure ourselves.Drawing on the insights of Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, Why We Are Restless explores the modern vision of happiness that leads us on, and the disquiet that follows it like a lengthening shadow. In the sixteenth century, Montaigne articulated an original vision of human life that inspired people to see themselves as individuals dedicated to seeking contentment in the here and now, but Pascal argued that that we cannot find happiness through pleasant self-seeking, only anguished God-seeking. Rousseau later tried and failed to rescue Montaigne’s worldliness from Pascal’s attack. Steeped in these debates, Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 and, observing a people “restless in the midst of their well-being,” discovered what happens when an entire nation seeks worldly contentment—and finds mostly discontent.Arguing that the philosophy we have inherited, despite pretending to let us live as we please, produces remarkably homogenous and unhappy lives, Why We Are Restless makes the case that finding true contentment requires rethinking our most basic assumptions about happiness.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780691211138

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Prologue We Restless Souls -- Introduction Four French Thinkers on the Modern Quest for Contentment -- Chapter 1 Montaigne: The Art of Ordinary Life -- Chapter 2 Pascal: The Inhumanity of Immanence -- Chapter 3 Rousseau: The Tragedy of Nature’s Redeemer -- Chapter 4 Tocqueville: Democracy and the Naked Soul -- Conclusion Liberal Education and the Art of Choosing -- Acknowledgments -- Suggested Readings -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

A beautifully written exploration of how the way we pursue happiness makes us unhappyWe live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet everywhere we see signs that our pursuit of happiness has proven fruitless. Dissatisfied, we seek change for the sake of change—even if it means undermining the foundations of our common life. In Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey offer a profound and beautiful reflection on the roots of this malaise and examine how we might begin to cure ourselves.Drawing on the insights of Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, Why We Are Restless explores the modern vision of happiness that leads us on, and the disquiet that follows it like a lengthening shadow. In the sixteenth century, Montaigne articulated an original vision of human life that inspired people to see themselves as individuals dedicated to seeking contentment in the here and now, but Pascal argued that that we cannot find happiness through pleasant self-seeking, only anguished God-seeking. Rousseau later tried and failed to rescue Montaigne’s worldliness from Pascal’s attack. Steeped in these debates, Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 and, observing a people “restless in the midst of their well-being,” discovered what happens when an entire nation seeks worldly contentment—and finds mostly discontent.Arguing that the philosophy we have inherited, despite pretending to let us live as we please, produces remarkably homogenous and unhappy lives, Why We Are Restless makes the case that finding true contentment requires rethinking our most basic assumptions about happiness.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)