Midlife: A Philosophical Guide

by Kieran Setiya

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691173931
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

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.

Table of 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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A concise, entertaining and humane guide through life’s most difficult territory."—Simon Ings, The Spectator

"A delightful amalgam of self-help and intellectual inquiry."—The Economist

"Written with charming simplicity and wry humor, Midlife is a philosophically rich source of what might be called 'the higher life hacks'. . . . . A work of disarming wisdom."—Jim Holt, author of Why Does the World Exist?

"Written with urgency and wit, Midlife has a great mix of philosophy, personal narrative, and practical wisdom. Highly recommended."—Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of Doubt: A History

"As someone who has suffered from a midlife crisis since the age of seven, I found Kieran Setiya's Midlife: A Philosophical Guide both instructive and consoling. If it fails to slim the waistline or stave off death, it nevertheless proves, like a trusted spouse or pet, a very companionable guide on the way to the void. It may even make you, as it did me, see the virtue of being forty-two."—Joshua Ferris, author of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

"Midlife teaches a lesson about midlife: it’s sometimes best to go with the flow."—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker

Editorial Reviews

"Setiya serves as an engaging companion for those in the throes of the dreaded midlife crisis, as he brings the wisdom of the ages to bear on the contemporary malaise. A self-help book with a strong—but not heavy-handed—philosophical foundation."

Kirkus

"Midlife has a self-soothing quality. . . . [It] teaches a lesson about midlife: it’s sometimes best to go with the flow."—-Joshua Rothman, New Yorker

"Mr. Setiya hopes to lift sufferers out of this dip [of midlife] and help them flourish by conveying the insights of modern philosophy. . . . For a philosophy professor, [he] can be refreshingly unstuffy. He doesn't see a flashy sports car as a midlife crisis-mobile, that trite substitute for lost youth and virility. No, he sees it as an opportunity to change from goal-oriented, utilitarian thinking to a life-affirming experience of being in the moment."—-Eric Felten, Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

"A delightful amalgam of self-help and intellectual inquiry."

The Economist

2017-07-12
A philosopher offers practical advice on how to navigate one's way through middle age and beyond.Setiya (Philosophy/MIT; Knowing Right from Wrong, 2015, etc.) serves as an engaging companion for those in the throes of the dreaded midlife crisis, as he brings the wisdom of the ages—from Gilgamesh to Aristotle and Plato to John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, and beyond—to bear on the contemporary malaise. Part of the problem is that the choices you have made by midlife have often closed the doors on all the other lives you might have lived. Another problem is that death looms, closer, and however you keep busy pales in comparison to contemplating the end. Yet another is that each task must come to an end, leading to more feelings of emptiness. Like Peggy Lee, "you have lived long enough to ask ‘Is that all there is?' " It may be enough, and should be, if you can adopt the proper philosophical perspective. Though Setiya quotes Montaigne—"to philosophize is to learn how to die"—he treats the topic in a tone that is warm, conversational, and surprisingly good-humored. We are all going to go through it, and we are all going to die: "If we could persuade ourselves that immortality is undesirable, we might be reconciled to death." And the truth of immortality, along with the impossibility, is that it could well leave us bored and bitter; we might prefer a return to the state of nonbeing that preceded our birth, "the prior abyss." The author counsels that even the most task-oriented must commit themselves to pleasures that he calls "existential," ones that can't be completed—e.g., listening to music, enjoying time with friends, meditating. A self-help book with a strong—but not heavy-handed—philosophical foundation.

Kirkus Reviews