TY  - BOOK
AU  - Storey,Benjamin
AU  - Storey,Jenna Silber
TI  - Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment 
T2  - New Forum Books
SN  - 9780691211138
U1  - 170/.44 23
PY  - 2021///]
CY  - Princeton, NJ : 
PB  - Princeton University Press, 
KW  - Contentment
KW  - Happiness
KW  - PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy
KW  - bisacsh
KW  - Christianity
KW  - Democracy in America
KW  - French philosophy
KW  - anxiety
KW  - atheism
KW  - classical education
KW  - decadence
KW  - democracy
KW  - depression
KW  - elites
KW  - good life
KW  - history of philosophy
KW  - hyperactivity
KW  - ideal of happiness
KW  - immanent contentment
KW  - liberal education
KW  - materialism
KW  - meaning of life
KW  - modernity
KW  - moralist
KW  - paradox of choice
KW  - political philosophy
KW  - purpose of life
KW  - pursuit of happiness
KW  - roots of modernity
KW  - self
KW  - skepticism
KW  - unhappiness
KW  - what is happiness
N1  - 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
N2  - 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
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691211138?locatt=mode:legacy
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780691211138
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780691211138/original
ER  -