HOW TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy edited by Massimo Pigliucci, Skye Cleary and Daniel Kaufman
Massimo Pigliucci
Every person has a life philosophy. Most often, it is laid in childhood as a result of upbringing in the family. Few people choose it consciously, as happened with some of the authors of this collection, and they are all recognized authorities and brilliant experts in their field. The pages of the book unfold a dizzying panorama of philosophical worldviews - from Eastern (Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Taoism) to Western (Aristotelianism, Epicureanism and Stoicism); from time-honored religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) to contemporary concepts such as ethical culture, existentialism, effective altruism, pragmatism, and secular humanism. If you doubt your current ideas about life, about the Universe and about the world in general, you have a chance to try on yourself or even adopt a different philosophy. If your coordinate system suits you, familiarity with other approaches will strengthen your beliefs. As Epicurus said, "we are born once, but you cannot be born twice," so it is impossible to overestimate the role of life philosophy in how we live our only life.
