num_pages: 210
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 JamesIn 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 called the sick-souled those who think that life might be meaningless drove him to articulate an ideal of healthy-mindedness--an attitude toward life that is open active and hopeful but also realistic about its risks. In fact all of James's pragmatism resting on the idea that truth should be judged by its practical consequences for our lives is a response to and possible antidote for crises of meaning that threaten to undo many of us at one time or another. Along the way Kaag also movingly describes how his own life has been endlessly enriched by James.Eloquent inspiring and filled with insight Sick Souls Healthy Minds may be the smartest and most important self-help book you'll ever read.
language: English
title: Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life
publisher: Princeton University Press