Sick Souls, Healthy Minds

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds

John Kaag

Language: English

Published: Oct 30, 2021

Description:

From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James
In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled "Is Life Worth Living?" It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man a quarter century earlier. Indeed, as John Kaag writes, "James's entire philosophy, from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life"—and that's why it just might be able to save yours, too. Sick Souls, Healthy Minds is a compelling introduction to James's life and thought that shows why the founder of pragmatism and empirical psychology—and an inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous—can still speak so directly and profoundly to anyone struggling to make a life worth living.
Kaag tells how James's experiences as one of what he...

在约翰·卡格深刻而个人化的著作《实用主义救了我》中,作者将自己的经历与威廉·詹姆斯的深刻哲学洞察交织在一起,探讨了抑郁、存在主义绝望和追求生命意义等主题。
卡格大师级地引导读者了解詹姆斯的实验主义哲学,强调了行动、信仰和个人塑造自身现实的力量。他深入探讨了詹姆斯的“心灵病”概念——那些与使人衰弱的怀疑、疏离和无意义感作斗争的人——并将其与“健康的心态”的概念形成对比,即开放、参与和愿意接受生命的不确定性的状态。
作者的个人叙事为这本书增添了引人入胜的维度,他讲述了自己与抑郁症的斗争以及詹姆斯哲学对他生命的变革性影响。卡格的脆弱和诚实深深地引起共鸣,他分享了自我发现的旅程以及在个人挣扎中逐渐找到意义和目的的过程。
卡格对詹姆斯哲学的探索超越了单纯的智力分析,他展示了詹姆斯思想在应对日常生活挑战中的实际应用。他强调了采用“信念的意志”的重要性——即使在面对不确定性的情况下,也要有意识地选择拥抱希望和可能性——以及采取行动,即使是小步,也能打破怀疑和绝望的瘫痪状态的变革力量。
《实用主义救了我》是对威廉·詹姆斯哲学持久相关性的强有力的证明,以及其引导个人走过最黑暗时刻的潜力。卡格巧妙地融合了个人叙事和哲学探索,创造了引人入胜和发人深省的阅读体验,为寻求更有意义和充实生活的人提供了希望之光。