A Brief History of Happiness

Nicholas P White author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Published:21st Dec '05

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

A Brief History of Happiness cover

In this brief history, philosopher Nicholas White reviews 2,500 years of philosophical thought about happiness.

  • Addresses key questions such as: What is happiness? Should happiness play such a dominant role in our lives? How can we deal with conflicts between the various things that make us happy?
  • Considers the ways in which major thinkers from antiquity to the modern day have treated happiness: from Plato’s notion of the harmony of the soul, through to Nietzsche’s championing of conflict over harmony.
  • Relates questions about happiness to ethics and to practical philosophy.
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"White takes his readers on [a] journey, aiming to reach an appreciation of the nature of happiness. He splendidly suceeds in making the journey as fascinating as it deserves to be. White has produced a unique, thoughtful work that provides a meaningful excursion through our conceptions of happiness. Readers will be left with a gift of greater insight into both the triumphs and limitations of our efforts to understand ourselves." PsycCRITIQUES

"A valuable aid to the flourishing literature on happiness and its history."
Ethics

"Nicholas White offers a brisk, informative, and readable account of various attempts, throughout the Western philosophical tradition, to articulate the meaning of that elusive term 'happiness.'" Review of Metaphysics

ISBN: 9781405115209

Dimensions: 217mm x 140mm x 16mm

Weight: 259g

208 pages