Midlife: A Philosophical Guide

Kieran Setiya

Princeton University Press, Sep 22, 2017 - Philosophy - 200 pages

Philosophical wisdom and practical advice for overcoming the problems of middle age

How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive.

You will learn why missing out might be a good thing, how options are overrated, and when you should be glad you made a mistake. You will be introduced to philosophical consolations for mortality. And you will learn what it would mean to live in the present, how it could solve your midlife crisis, and why meditation helps.

Ranging from Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill to Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as drawing on Setiya’s own experience, Midlife combines imaginative ideas, surprising insights, and practical advice. Writing with wisdom and wit, Setiya makes a wry but passionate case for philosophy as a guide to life.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Daniel.Estes - LibraryThing

I was solidly at the beginning of midlife just as the 2020 coronavirus pandemic blew up. The result was I couldn't tell where my so-called midlife crisis stopped and the global crisis began. My ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - RandyMetcalfe - LibraryThing

If the asymmetry problem — that is, the fact that we often display contrasting responses to our pre-natal non-existence and our non-existence subsequent to our death — captures the frame or extent ...

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• 1 A Brief History of the Midlife Crisis: 6
• 2 Is That All There Is?: 29
• 3 Missing Out: 54
• 4 Retrospection: 77
• 5 Something to Look Forward To: 103
• 6 Living in the Present: 127
• Conclusion: 155
• Acknowledgments: 161
• Notes: 163
• Index: 183

About the author

Kieran Setiya is professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Reasons without Rationalism (Princeton) and Knowing Right from Wrong. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Midlife: A Philosophical Guide
• Author: Kieran Setiya
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2017
• ISBN: 1400888476, 9781400888474
• Length: 200 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Philosophy / Free Will & Determinism; Philosophy / General