Book Summary:

PHILOSOPHY FOR LIFE AND OTHER DANGEROUS SITUATIONS by Jules Evans

Publisher: Rider 

Release date: 1 May 2012

Jules Evans is the policy director at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is also co-organiser of the London Philosophy Club, and the founder of projects for philosophical research and the promotion of philosophy groups worldwide.

Jules Evans has written this book to explore ancient philosophical ideas that are still relevant enough today to be able to make us happier, wiser and more resilient. In an interesting format of presentation, he imagines a dream school, whereby 12 of the greatest philosophers of all time each conducts a lesson.  When reading the book, we feel like we have gate-crashed into live lectures given by these great men and learning their special techniques of exalted living.  Through these privileged eaves-droppings, we will realize that much of these ideas resonate with modern psychological theories and their urgings are consistent with contemporary psycho-therapeutic practice.

These lessons are:

1. Socrates - the Socratic Method is an art of constantly questioning ourselves and others to examine our beliefs and to change them for the better. This plasticity of the human psyche and the resultant habits is the basis of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy). The aim is to achieve human flourishing through the path of resilience.

2. Epictetus - the stoic art of achieving calmness and resilience by freely maintaining control over our own thoughts and beliefs and defiantly accepting the external chaos that are not under our control.

3. Musonius Rufus - the art of self-control through daily practice and training.

4. Seneca - the art of managing over-optimistic expectations in order to alleviate anger. A clear-eyed appraisal of the world will make us be aware and be ready to adapt to potential setbacks.

5. Epicurus - the art of savoring the moment. This advocates idleness and pleasure as the antidotes for stress and anxiety. Happiness is a choice of simple desires and the belief in enjoying the moment.

6. Heraclitus - the art of cosmic contemplation gives us a big-picture perspective of all existence as one of survival in a dynamic flow of nature.  Our petty problems and anxieties pale in comparison to the grand unity of the Universal Law.

7. Pythagoras - the art of guiding our lives through maxims in our hearts.

8. The Skeptics - the art of cultivating doubt and practicing the Scientific Method of probabilistic induction and empirical falsification.

9.  Diogenes - the art of anarchy. The abolishment of authoritarianism and the enhancement of participatory democracy are elements of a cultural revolution against capitalism and a movement against consumerism. The cynic's way of voluntary desensitization to public disapproval prevents social anxiety and misery by moving us from a false morality based on appearances to a genuine one based on adherence to personal moral codes.

10. Plato - the art of justice. The rational realm of our psyche overrides the emotive and the basic realms, just as the the truths of the intellectuals triumph over the glory of the soldiers and the money of the businessmen. On the other hand, democracy is an anarchy of impulses with an appetite driven by the popular and the trendy. It also lacks harmony between the whole and its parts.

11. Plutarch - the art of heroism.  Youths have the desire to emulate greatness and heroism, so we must educate by example.

12. Aristotle - the art of flourishing.  Doing the right thing at the right time is the Golden Mean. It is achieved through daily practice. True happiness comes from the meaningful fulfillment of what is highest and best in our nature in the company of others.  The good society is one that allows human fulfillment to take place.  People become philosopher-citizens in order to achieve eudaimonia by living meaningful and virtuous lives. There are 5 different versions of happiness, namely, positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. He also taught that empiricism should be balanced with practical reasoning.