The Conquest of Happiness“Should be read by every parent, teacher, minister, and Congressman in the land.”—The Atlantic In The Conquest of Happiness, first published by Liveright in 1930, iconoclastic philosopher Bertrand Russell attempted to diagnose the myriad causes of unhappiness in modern life and chart a path out of the seemingly inescapable malaise so prevalent even in safe and prosperous Western societies. More than eighty years later, Russell’s wisdom remains as true as it was on its initial release. Eschewing guilt-based morality, Russell lays out a rationalist prescription for living a happy life, including the importance of cultivating interests outside oneself and the dangers of passive pleasure. In this new edition, best-selling philosopher Daniel C. Dennett reintroduces Russell to a new generation, stating that Conquest is both “a fascinating time capsule” and “a prototype of the flood of self-help books that have more recently been published, few of them as well worth reading today as Russell’s little book.” |
Contents
Competition | |
Boredom and Excitement | |
Fatigue | |
Envy | |
Causes of Happiness | |
Is Happiness Still Possible? | |
Zest | |
Affection | |
The Family | |
Work | |
Impersonal Interests | |
Effort and Resignation | |
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Common terms and phrases
achieve acquire activities admired affection altruism ancestor worship attitude become believe BERTRAND RUSSELL boredom CHAPTER child circumstances civilized concerned Conquest of Happiness conscious consider course cure derive desire diminish dipsomaniac effort Emily Brontë emotions enjoy envy essential example excitement fact fatigue fear feel genuine give golden mean gormandizer happen human imagine important impossible impulse instinctive intellectual interest kind King Lear Krutch less live man’s marriage matter means mind misfortune modern moral mother natural necessary never one’s oneself pain parenthood parents passions perhaps persecution mania person pleasure possible present produce psychoanalysis psychological Queen of Sheba rational rational ethic realize reason regard respect Russia satisfaction selfcentered sense social sort source of happiness success suffer suppose things thought trouble true unconscious unconscious mind vanity welltodo whole wish woman women worry young zest