Synopses & Reviews
Irving Singer has many wise and instructive things to say about happiness and how we can get beyond suffering in life. His discussion of the love of life as contrasted with the love of love... is a profoundly important one. It is a gold mine for those who wish to better understand the intellectual foundations of the good life.--Marvin Kohl, The New School of Social Research
Preceded by The Creation of Value and The Pursuit of Love, this final book in Singer's Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and spirit, and examines the ways in which we may resolve our sense of being divided and thereby overcome the suffering in life. The Harmony of Nature and Spirit suggests that the accord between nature and spirit, and between meaning, happiness, and love, arises from an art of life that employs the same principles of imagination and idealization as those that exist in all artistic creativity. Living the good life is an art that seeks the harmonization of meaning with consummatory happiness. It is through the meaning created by imagination and idealization, Singer says, that happiness and the love of life become available to us.
Rarely does one get a chance to see such a polished, mature, and humane piece of writing, all the rarer in philosophy. Long ago, philosophers would write sophisticated books for a general, literate audience. James's Varieties of Religious Experience or Santayana's Life of Reason come to mind. Singer's work stands in near isolation because it continues this tradition.--Thomas Alexander, Southern Illinois University
The book's freshness, perceptiveness, and clarity make it worthwhile for educated lay readers and professionalsalike.--Robert Hoffman, Library Journal
Review
Rarely does one get a chance to see such a polished, mature, and humane piece of writing, all the rarer in philosophy. < b=""> Marvin Kohl <> , The New School for Social Research
Review
A gold mine for those who wish to better understand the intellectual foundations of the good life. The MIT Press
Review
Rarely does one get a chance to see such a polished, mature, and humane piece of writing, all the rarer in philosophy. < b=""> Marvin Kohl <> , The New School for Social Research
Synopsis
An acclaimed philosopher suggests that the art of living well employs the same principles as those that exist in all artistic creativity.
This final book in Irving Singer's Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality. It examines the ways in which we overcome the suffering in life by resolving our sense of being divided between them. Singer suggests that the accord between nature and spirit arises from an art of life that affords meaning, happiness, and love by employing the same principles as those that exist in all artistic achievements. It is through the meaningfulness created by imagination and idealization, Singer says, that we make life worth living.
This human art form, Singer writes, enables us to unite our selfish interests with our compassionate and loving inclinations. We thereby effect a vital harmonization within which the naturalistic values of ethics, aesthetics, and religion can find their legitimate place. The good life, as envisioned by Singer, includes the love of persons, things, and ideals so intricately intermeshed that the meaning in one contributes to the meaningfulness of the other two. The result is a kind of happiness that we all desire.
Synopsis
This final book in Irving Singer's
Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality. It examines the ways in which we overcome the suffering in life by resolving our sense of being divided between them. Singer suggests that the accord between nature and spirit arises from an art of life that affords meaning, happiness, and love by employing the same principles as those that exist in all artistic achievements. It is through the meaningfulness created by imagination and idealization, Singer says, that we make life worth living.
This human art form, Singer writes, enables us to unite our selfish interests with our compassionate and loving inclinations. We thereby effect a vital harmonization within which the naturalistic values of ethics, aesthetics, and religion can find their legitimate place. The good life, as envisioned by Singer, includes the love of persons, things, and ideals so intricately intermeshed that the meaning in one contributes to the meaningfulness of the other two. The result is a kind of happiness that we all desire.
Synopsis
An acclaimed philosopher suggests that the art of living well employs the same principles as those that exist in all artistic creativity.
About the Author
Irving Singer is Professor of Philosophy at MIT. In addition to his two trilogies, The Nature of Love and Meaning in Life, he is the author of many other books, including the recent Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing-Up, and four books on film aesthetics, Reality Transformed: Film as Meaning and Technique; Three Philosophical Filmmakers: Hitchcock, Welles, Renoir; Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher: Reflections on His Creativity; and Cinematic Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film, all published by the MIT Press.