Thursday, March 4, 2010

Book Review 3 –The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton

This book by Alain de Botton is a wonderful introduction to the usefulness of philosophy for life with plenty of quotes from six of the great philosophers of the last 2,400 years including my favourite Epicurus. The title is a kind of philosophical joke as the “The Consolations of Philosophy” was originally written by the Roman Senator Boethius in 524 AD while he was imprisoned by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric on trumped up charges of treachery. Although a Christian he was also in agreement with Platonic ideas and his work is often described as the most interesting piece of prison literature ever written. Boethius writes the book as a conversation between himself and Lady Philosophy. She consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of fame and wealth by saying "no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune."

This is essentially the theme of Alain de Botton’s work. He offers philosophical advice for a number of human problems, including unpopularity, not having enough money, frustration, inadequacy, a broken heart and difficulties in general. It is refreshingly free from jargon and the traditional metaphysical dilemmas that usually make philosophy impenetrable. Instead it is a practical guide to understanding what matters in life and how to achieve happiness. The philosophers he has chosen do not always agree on how to achieve this, but he presents their views in a very entertaining way.

I particularly enjoyed the section on inadequacy which featured Michel de Montaigne who wrote his famous essays around 1580. Montaigne’s descriptions on the size of his penis, his ingrown toe-nail and the problems of his digestion were very amusing and made me rush out and buy a copy of his work which is still in print and a great read. Although very well educated, Montaigne had no time for philosophers like Plato and Aristotle who he found boring and in denial of the human condition. He was interested in how ordinary people behaved and why. His philosophy is still very relevant today.

The other section which I really enjoyed was the consolation for a broken heart which featured the German philosopher Schopenhauer who died in 1860. Schopenhauer felt despair as early as the age of six and was one of the greatest pessimists in history, greatly preferring poodles to people. Although not lucky in love himself, he was fascinated by the idea of love and wondered why it was such a neglected topic by philosophers. Like Montaigne he believed that our minds were subservient to our bodies and he developed a theory called the will-to-life which he claimed affected our ability to reason. However he was a seriously morose writer and ends by saying, “There is only one inborn error, and that is the notion that we exist to be happy.”

Alain de Botton seems to agree and writes, “Not everything that makes us feel better is good for us. Not everything which hurts may be bad.” But despite this rather grim pronouncement, the book is rather uplifting and very informative, with lots of pictures and diagrams to break up the text. In my opinion, this is how a book on philosophy should be written – clearly and on subjects that are important to everyone.