Life is hard. And yet so much of contemporary life compels us to fight this fundamental reality. We are meant to be happy! We are meant to live our best, most #blissful, potential-stacked life! But I talk with Kieran Setiya, a professor of philosophy at MIT, who argues we should #NotLiveOurBestLife. It’s better to aspire to a life that is, well, good enough. Kieran has appeared on Sam Harris’ podcast, written for the New York Times, the London Review of Books etc bringing a philosophical argument to pop issues such as the Dave Chapelle quandary, baseball and the worth of having a midlife crises. In his latest book, Life is Hard, he draws on Aristotle, Wittgenstein, and Simone Weil - as well as Groundhog Day and Joan Didion – to guide us to a good life, which entails embracing pain and hardship. In this chat we cover: How to make friends; what if the whole world turned sterile; the beauty of chronic pain and Kieran’s thesis for “the meaning of life” (it’s a cracker, and it’s not 42!).
Grab Kieran’s book Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
Read some of his essays and connect with him via his website
He mentions he came across Wild via this interview with Katherine May
.....
If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page.
Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversation.
Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life
Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
BEST OF: DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR. Learning to live in the right brain – possibly the best New Year hack ever.
BEST OF: DAVID POCOCK. Want to know more about the Australian Senator making waves in Canberra?
BEST OF: SIA.The chat where I make the artist cry.
I FOUND MAMMOTH DUDE: Special episode
AZIZ ABU SARAH: A radical Palestinian peace broker on how to solve wicked conflicts
SETH GODIN: Ratcheting up the climate fight...with capitalism!
BAYO AKOMOLAFE: The times are urgent, let’s slow down and become a fugitive
HOLDEN KARNOFSKY: The most important century is now. Blimey
CLARE PRESS: There is no such thing as sustainable fashion. Now what?
JENNIFER ROBINSON: Public educated kids speak out!
BEAU MILES: become a backyard adventurer.
KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: The greatest living sci-fi author goes hiking
MATT BROWNE: The rise of the bro-caster guru (it’s a thing!)
MARY ANN SIEGHART: Smash the authority gap!
ELISE BOHAN: Ah shit, transhumanism….
JOELLE GERGIS: How an IPCC lead author does climate grief
JOSH SZEPS: In which the Joe Rogan regular interviews ME!
A.C. GRAYLING: How to have your own life philosophy
ANDREW QUILTY: “I chose to live in a war zone” (possibly the most intimate pod chat so far)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Hamish & Andy
The Howie Games
Motley Fool Money
Just the Gist
The Briefing