Six philosophers

Alain de Botton’s book, “The Consolations of Philosophy” covers six philosophers and their lessons for life. In short, these are:

Socrates — “the truth is out there” (the truth depends on logic, not on the popularity of ideas)

Epicurus — “don’t worry, be happy” (you should strive for happiness, which comes from friends/freedom/thinking, not stuff)

Seneca — “shit happens” (bad stuff happens to everybody, be aware of the possibility & don’t let it get you down)

Montaigne — “people suck” (other people aren’t as smart, normal or talented as they think they are, so be happy with yourself)

Schopenhauer — “life’s a bitch and then you marry one” (life is full of pain and disappointment, but we can turn that into knowledge)

Nietzsche — “learn from your mistakes” (everybody suffers, but what matters is how we deal with the setbacks in life)

They all had something interesting to say, though personally I preferred Epicurus, Seneca and Nietzshe. Especially Nietzshe. The poor guy had a pretty crappy life and went nuts for 11 years before dying at 55… but I think he struck on some very good points.

I think he was right to reject Schopenhauer’s attitude of “life sucks, just try to minimise the pain” and instead realise that the lows go with the highs and we should strive to live a worthy life with risk, adventure, high highs and low lows. I think he was right to point out the value of learning from pain instead of just trying to dull it. As with excessive heat telling us to take our hands off the stove, so too with excessive anxiety we learn not to worry so much and with excessive anger we learn the value of tolerance, forgiveness and friendliness. We will always run into pain, but if we can accept the pain and learn from it (instead of just trying to dull it) then we can work towards a better life.

I also think he made an important insight into the difference between the obvious immediate good and the long term good. This is a distinction important to good economists and political philosophers… as often people are seduced by a policy or idea that provides a visible and immediate benefit but introduces harder-to-see and longer-term costs that are much worse. And sometimes there are visible immediate costs from an action that lead to harder-to-see and longer-term benefits that are much better. Nietzsche warned not just to look at the immediate pleasure and pain but to consider that short-term pain can be a driver of longer-term benefits. 

And I like his point about religion and weak minds trying to make a virtue of necessity. That is, some people notice that they have a crappy life and instead of striving for a better life, they develop a morality that says “crappy lives are good”. If we want to be rich but fail, we should not condemn the rich man, but try again. If we want to do something but fail, we should not condemn those who succeed, but try again. Those who succeed are often those who continue to try when others have given up. And even if you don’t succeed, at least you haven’t copped-out of life, but have always sought a life worth living.

The one other part of the book I thought worth mentioning was Schopenhauer’s attitude to art. Botton explains the position like this:

Artists and philosophers not only show us what we have felt, they present our experiences more poignantly and intelligently than we have been able; they give shape to aspects of our lives that we recognize as our own, yet could never have understood so clearly on our own. They explain our condition to us, and thereby help us to be less lonely with, and confused by it … In their different ways, art and philosophy help us, in Shopenhauer’s words, to turn pain into knowledge … The greatest works of art speak to us without knowing of us.

My view exactly. Though I was not able to put it so well. So Botton’s words are actually an example of what he is talking about. He (as an artist or philosopher, or perhaps both) was able to crystalise my views of art in a way I could immediately recognise, but in a way that I had so far been unable to say. In my view — that makes his book “good art”.