On Kindness - Couverture rigide

Phillips, Adam; Taylor, Barbara

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0241144337 ISBN 13 : 9780241144336

Editeur : Hamish Hamilton, 2009

Synopsis

The pleasures of kindness have been well known since the dawn of Western thought. Kindness, declared Marcus Aurelius, was mankind's 'greatest delight' - and centuries-worth of thinkers and writers have echoed him. But today many people seem to find these pleasures literally incredible. Instead of embracing the benefits of kindness, as a species we seem to be becoming deeply and fundamentally antagonistic to each other, with motives that are generally self-seeking.This book explains how and why this has come about, and argues that the affectionate life - a life lived in instinctive sympathetic identification with the vulnerabilities and attractions of others - is the one we should all be inclined to live. 'We mutually belong to one another,' as the philosopher Alan Ryan writes, and the good life is one 'that reflects this truth'. What the Victorians called 'open-heartedness' and the Christians 'caritas' remains essential to our emotional and mental health, for reasons both obvious and hidden, argue the authors of this elegant and indispensable exploration of the concept of kindness.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Adam Phillips, formerly Principle Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital, London, is a practising psychoanalyst and a visiting professor in the English department at the University of York. He is the author of numerous works of psychoanalysis and literary criticism, including most recently Unforbidden Pleasures, and Missing Out. He is General Editor of the Penguin Modern Classics Freud translations, and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Hamish Hamilton
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0241144337
• ISBN 13: 9780241144336
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 128
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible