About
Author: Kieran Setiya (UK)
Genre: Philosophy
Setting
Place: n/a
Time: n/a
My Rating (see what this means)
My Subjective Rating: 5
My ‘Objective’ Rating: 4.4
Introduction
It is not unreasonable to not expect a book titled ‘Life is Hard’ dealing with loneliness, grief, injustice etc. to be a light-happy read. On top of that, the book itself, in the introduction, argues that we should not aim to be happy anyway. So, I was pleasantly surprised when, as I started to read the book, it was able to trigger a sense of satisfaction and calmness in me.
Better still, the author, in chapter 6, promises the address the question – what is the meaning of life? – and delivers an arguably reasonable answer.
Synopsis
Keiran Setiya, a professor of philosophy at MIT, uses personal stories and philosophical explorations of great minds to recommend simple practical ways to deal with certain human conditions – infirmity, loneliness, grief, failure, injustice, absurdity – which everyone encounters at some point in their life, albeit in varying degrees. It is simple, accessible philosophy – which can be a solid response to someone arguing about the pointlessness of philosophical pondering.
Review
Hardly any of the philosophy in this book is ground-breaking work. Most thought experiments the author brings up weren’t, for me – a-reasonably-read-in-philosophy person, truly novel. At several instances, I found the author having put arguments which I have had in some form or shape made during discussions with people I enjoy discussing philosophy with. On occasions when the author had arguments critical of the ones I continue to hold, his logic remained sound, even when not convincing enough for me to change my mind. The strength of the book, then, comes from its purpose. In trying to lay out how to deal with a set of otherwise grim human conditions, the author enables us to pause and reflect on our life and lays out a reasonable guide on how to live well!
Technically – the book is well structured. The author explains well the choice of topics – infirmity, loneliness, grief, failure, injustice absurdity and hope. Each of these topic segues well into the next making for an engaging book. Within each chapter – the flow of the argument is neat – Laying out what the author means by the said condition, why discussing it is relevant, and then looking at various arguments on dealing with it – finally arriving at rounded off conclusions which remains reasonable and practical, before segueing to the next chapter.
The argument is not without flaws – the author presupposes some liberal priorities, or makes an unconvincing case (e.g. moving disability from realm of medicine to political minorities) – even for my liberal sensibilities, at least once draws, what seemed to me, a false equivalency (e.g. between a nihilist and a committed conspiracy theorist). Occasionally, his arguments felt unnecessary (e.g. viewing life as a narrative), but that must be because I never held the view he was countering in the first place. However, all these flaws remained minor and few.
What the book does very well is encourage observation and reflection. While reading, I was actively thinking about the author’s arguments – agreeing and disagreeing with them in turn. There were enough questions to ponder thought – and enough new perspectives and a fair trickling of social sciences in between. Someone less familiar with academic philosophical thoughts will only find the book more informative.
In time, the author arrives at a well-rounded off conclusions/recommendations about dealing with the said condition. A lot he suggests was agreeable. Occasionally, in places I disagreed, I never found the disagreement objectionable enough to spoil my mood – my responses at such occasions instead was more in the lines of –
It wouldn’t feel like a wedding to me, unless we used the Book of Common Prayer – but I didn’t want ‘God’ to be there. ‘Whether you mention him or not,’ Bob smiled benignly, ‘God is going to be there.’ That felt right”
Picture Credits:
- https://www.morningcoach.com/blog/what-makes-life-hard
- https://innerbalanceaz.com/blog/existential-loneliness
- Quotefancy