Jonathan Lear is John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor on the Committee on Social Thought and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. His works include Wisdom Won from Illness, Radical Hope, A Case for Irony, and Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life.
Today, the domain of psychology is hopelessly split between the
'high' theory, caught in its expert language, and the popular
self-help manuals addressing people's actual crises and dilemmas.
The miracle of Lear's book is that he effortlessly unites these two
seemingly incompatible dimensions. Through the most stringent
conceptual analysis of the basic notions of the Freudian edifice,
he asks the simple crucial questions that gnaw us all: What is
happiness? How does psychoanalysis enable us to orient ourselves in
today's reality? With envy and admiration, I still wonder how Lear
was able to do it!
*Slavoj Žižek, author of The Sublime Object of Ideology*
Jonathan Lear has done it again! Bringing sophisticated
psychoanalytic understanding to a close textual analysis of the
Nichomachean Ethics, he demonstrates how both Aristotle's
contemplative life and Freud's death instinct were designed to
defend against a fundamental problem in constructing a unified view
of man, and suggests the outline of a new and original approach—one
that will allow us to think of self-disrupting minds in creative
but non-principled ways. Lear has continued the rich dialogue that
he began in Open Minded, and that spans centuries, cultures, and
great minds—from Plato's and Aristotle's Athens, to Freud's Vienna,
and finally to Lear's America. This book is essential reading for
students of philosophy, ethics, psychoanalysis, and Western
civilization.
*Robert Michels, M.D., former Dean, Cornell Medical School*
These deeply thoughtful and provocative lectures present, dissect,
and critique the attempts of both ancient Greek ethics and modern
psychoanalytic theory to come to grips with purposefulness in human
life. Lear's elegant interweaving of textual exegesis,
philosophical reflection, and psychoanalytic theorizing is at once
a welcome contribution to scholarship and a highly accessible
exploration of the sense that something is missing in life.
*Alan Code, Nicholas C. Petris Professor of Greek Studies,
University of California, Berkeley*
In this book Jonathan Lear provides an invaluable and necessary
link between psychoanalysis and philosophy. He describes the break
that was introduced into earlier world views by Freud's discovery
of the unavoidably irrational and chaotic unconscious part of our
mind, and the way the mind internally attacks itself (Freud's death
instinct). Lear shows how such a 'break' can be a breakdown or a
breakthrough, opening new possibilities and enlarging our
horizons.
*Hanna Segal, Training Analyst, British Institute of
Psychoanalysis, author of Dream, Phantasy and Art*
Not many people are equally appreciative of Plato and Freud, and
fewer still are able to move back and forth between contemporary
discussions among philosophers and the highly technical literature
of psychoanalysis as easily as Lear does… Daring and
provocative.
*New York Times Book Review*
Here's an intricate, heavyweight treatment of Aristotle's
eudaimonia, Freud's Thanatos, and the role of the unconscious in
ethical life that demands a lot of intellectual effort. Yet there's
no jargon or obfuscation in it. Lear is doing real philosophical
work—engaging both with ideas and with us.
*Village Voice*
An extended meditation on Aristotle's conception of happiness and
Freud's approach to death, the book argues that both thinkers fell
prey to a similar illusion…[the thought] that our desires can ever
come to an end… There is great depth to Happiness, Death, and the
Remainder of Life.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Today, the domain of psychology is hopelessly split between the
'high' theory, caught in its expert language, and the popular
self-help manuals addressing people's actual crises and dilemmas.
The miracle of Lear's book is that he effortlessly unites these two
seemingly incompatible dimensions. Through the most stringent
conceptual analysis of the basic notions of the Freudian edifice,
he asks the simple crucial questions that gnaw us all: What is
happiness? How does psychoanalysis enable us to orient ourselves in
today's reality? With envy and admiration, I still wonder how Lear
was able to do it! -- Slavoj Zizek, author of The Sublime Object
of Ideology
Jonathan Lear has done it again! Bringing sophisticated
psychoanalytic understanding to a close textual analysis of the
Nichomachean Ethics, he demonstrates how both Aristotle's
contemplative life and Freud's death instinct were designed to
defend against a fundamental problem in constructing a unified view
of man, and suggests the outline of a new and original approach-one
that will allow us to think of self-disrupting minds in creative
but non-principled ways. Lear has continued the rich dialogue that
he began in Open Minded, and that spans centuries, cultures,
and great minds-from Plato's and Aristotle's Athens, to Freud's
Vienna, and finally to Lear's America. This book is essential
reading for students of philosophy, ethics, psychoanalysis, and
Western civilization. -- Robert Michels, M.D., former Dean, Cornell
Medical School
These deeply thoughtful and provocative lectures present, dissect,
and critique the attempts of both ancient Greek ethics and modern
psychoanalytic theory to come to grips with purposefulness in human
life. Lear's elegant interweaving of textual exegesis,
philosophical reflection, and psychoanalytic theorizing is at once
a welcome contribution to scholarship and a highly accessible
exploration of the sense that something is missing in life. -- Alan
Code, Nicholas C. Petris Professor of Greek Studies, University of
California, Berkeley
In this book Jonathan Lear provides an invaluable and necessary
link between psychoanalysis and philosophy. He describes the break
that was introduced into earlier world views by Freud's discovery
of the unavoidably irrational and chaotic unconscious part of our
mind, and the way the mind internally attacks itself (Freud's death
instinct). Lear shows how such a 'break' can be a breakdown or a
breakthrough, opening new possibilities and enlarging our horizons.
-- Hanna Segal, Training Analyst, British Institute of
Psychoanalysis, author of Dream, Phantasy and Art
Not many people are equally appreciative of Plato and Freud, and
fewer still are able to move back and forth between contemporary
discussions among philosophers and the highly technical literature
of psychoanalysis as easily as Lear does... Daring and provocative.
-- Richard Rorty * New York Times Book Review *
Here's an intricate, heavyweight treatment of Aristotle's
eudaimonia, Freud's Thanatos, and the role of the
unconscious in ethical life that demands a lot of intellectual
effort. Yet there's no jargon or obfuscation in it. Lear is doing
real philosophical work-engaging both with ideas and with us. --
Norah Vincent * Village Voice *
An extended meditation on Aristotle's conception of happiness and
Freud's approach to death, the book argues that both thinkers fell
prey to a similar illusion...[the thought] that our desires can
ever come to an end... There is great depth to Happiness, Death,
and the Remainder of Life. -- Andrew Stark * Times Literary
Supplement *
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
