Reddit Reddit reviews The Consolations of Philosophy

We found 12 Reddit comments about The Consolations of Philosophy. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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12 Reddit comments about The Consolations of Philosophy:

u/0311 · 6 pointsr/mealtimevideos

Interesting. I hadn't heard of The School of Life, but I took a low-level college philosophy class and one of the required books was The Consolations of Philosophy by de Botton. I would definitely describe it as very light reading.

That anti-capitalist notebook is hilarious.

u/Doglatine · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

I quite enjoyed Alain de Boton's Consolations of Philosophy when I read it on a summer holiday a few years ago, and it gave me some fun historical insights into people like Schopenhauer. If you're just getting warmed up to philosophy, I think it could be a low key bit of pleasure reading. Just don't take it too seriously - that kind of stuff is to philosophy what Neil deGrasse and Bill Nye are to science.

u/frondoad · 3 pointsr/psychology

Yes, absolutely. Knowledge is key.

Consider this analogy: A clinically depressed person, is an individual who is in an unfamiliar land, a depressive land. And psychological knowledge, and philosophical knowledge serves as the map with which the individual may become better acquainted with their surroundings, feeling more comfortable there, and the map can direct them towards roads/highways/bridges to leave that place and venture to other states of mind.


I was depressed to the point of cutting myself each night and considering suicide on a weekly basis. And so I checked myself into a clinical psychologist and it was the best decision I ever made in my life thus far.

I realize you have financial constraints, and so I will tell you that I benefited wonderfully from therapy thus far through my therapist's book recommendations. I've since become very interested in philosophy. And you will find that philosophy and psychology are like neighbors really.

u/waltonky · 2 pointsr/GetMotivated

I think this video is actually a video form of de Botton's book The Consolations of Philosophy. I own it but have yet to read it but I imagine there might be more in here than the video. I have read one of de Botton's other books called Status Anxiety which is an examination of plausible sources of status anxiety and possible solutions for it. It draws on the work of several philosophers over time.

As unclewangtooth noted in his citation the SEP, most of our info regarding Socrates comes from the Platonic dialogues. However, as stated, there is a general debate about how accurately these actually reflect the real deal. I think it's generally accepted, however, that the first four are more or less accurate representations of Socrates and his beliefs. At least that seems to be the idea they tossed out in my philosophy department. So, if you're interested in learning more, I would check out Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. Don't let the term "Apology" confuse you into thinking he's sorry for his actions. It takes the term from the other definition of a "defense" where we also get the term "apologetics".

A casual talk-through and discussion on Plato's Apology was done by one of my favorite podcasts "The Partially Examined Life". The podcasts are designed to be coherent for people who don't have a background in philosophy so if you're interested in that sort of thing and have about 90 minutes to kill then I recommend checking out Part 1 and Part 2.

Personally, what keeps me going is the fact that I stand alongside YouTuber and professor of philosophy SisyphusRedeemed in the belief that I need not fear failure or being wrong, at least not necessarily. But if you really want to see somebody who was probably a fellow wolf, who did not let himself be brought down by the weight of others' opinions, you should check out Diogenes of Sinope, a contemporary of Plato.

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/AskMen

Read a book called The Consolations of Philosophy. Don't let the title put you off, it's very easy to read, even if you haven't read any philosophy before.

It's basically a collection of life advice from various philosophers throughout the ages on how to live a more happy and contented life.

u/KubrickIsMyCopilot · 2 pointsr/philosophy

You might look into The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton (not to be confused with The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius - an ancient work).

u/BYF9 · 2 pointsr/askphilosophy

> I guess I'm really frustrated at seeing people who don't really have an interest in philosophy and seem to be able to experience more joy in life by not thinking of such thoughts. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I wondered these exact same things when I was younger. My issues had to do with the fact that I was very religious back then, and many concepts challenged what was my established reality back then.

I fixed this by forging my own view of life and philosophy. I did this by reading a lot. I started when I was around 12, reading soft philosphy books like The Consolations of Philosophy, which introduced me to harder concepts I could derive value from.

In my opinion, some concepts and thinkers can be hard to swallow. I went from thinking there was life after death to being presented with compelling arguments that there wasn't a god, for example.

Nowadays I keep a very simple view of life. I've come to realize that I enjoy analyzing things more than most people do. I've found friends that are simillar, and come in contact with people that are the opposite from me.

I mostly read philosophy for the aplicable aspects of it. I deeply enjoy reading Seneca, Montaigne, Sartre, and some others. Montaigne was particularily instrumental for coming to terms with myself.

I guess most people would consider that self-help philosophy because I tend to avoid subjects that seem very abstract to me. I see philosophy as a roadmap that helps me live a better life.

I believe Philosphy Bro's summaries (which are comical on purpose) also helped me understand harder concepts and come to terms with myself.

u/stankbooty · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

First off, don't believe anyone who tells you that non-fiction books are the only worthwhile books. That is blasphemy. Non-fiction might make you more knowledgeable about certain things, but fiction allows you to entertain an entirely different perspective of the world for the duration of the book. I would argue that the latter is more beneficial to your development as a critical thinker and a human being.

Secondly, it sounds like you haven't really found your genre yet. You couldn't get through all of Harry Potter, maybe fantasy isn't your thing. Try historical fiction. What kind of movies and TV shows do you enjoy? Try finding books along the same vein. Just like anything else, you're going to have to sift through a lot of stuff you don't like to find the ones you do.

I like to have at least two books going at the same time, because sometimes reading just one book gets boring. At any given time, I'll be reading one book for pleasure (I really like fantasy - so something like Malazan Book of the Fallen), and one book for merit (anything from philosophy to psychology to a travel memoir).

Lastly, try getting your reading time in right before you go to sleep. It's less stimulating than watching TV or being on the computer. You can get a few pages in when you're taking a shit, too.

u/awesomefresh · 2 pointsr/Stoicism

de Botton talks at length about the Stoics & Epicurus (among Socrates, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Montaigne) in his excellent Consolations of Philosophy. It's stoicism-lite but it's still great.

u/womendezuguo · 1 pointr/SuicideWatch

>I don't disbelieve because I'm having a hard time. I disbelieve because there are people out there suffering who don't deserve to and people who deserve to suffer for what they've done to others, but aren't.

I'm sure other believers also understand this. If their god is compassionate, and I believe they think so, how can they solve this problem? Have you tried talking to them? I suppose everyone has his/her own answer but these answers might inspire you to develop you own.

> Why bother?

Because if the reasoning is unsound, or some of the assumptions are not true, then we should definitely be sceptical about the validity of the conclusion.

By the way, I forgot to mention in my previous post, this book definitely helped me when I was feeling depressed a while ago. It's not a long or difficult read.

u/darthsaber · 1 pointr/ABCDesis

Alain de Botton is a lot of fun to read. If you liked this, I would recommend this one.

And his books are good as well. This one's my favourite.

Edit: And he has a TED talk which is one of my favourites as well.

u/baadumtsss · 1 pointr/philosophy

Then I'd keep my 1st suggestion above as a candidate. Further, look at http://www.amazon.com/The-Consolations-Philosophy-Alain-Botton/dp/0679779175 . From my perspective, the following book should be the entry point - it won't have the broad sweep that you may be looking for but will give you an appreciation of the subject (with some classical phil discussions) - http://www.amazon.com/Consolation-Philosophy-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411088156&sr=1-1&keywords=boethius . Note the difference in the spellings of 'consolation' and 'consolations' above.