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Imagining the End

Mourning and Ethical Life
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( 61 ratings, 11 reviews)
Brief Description
A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction A Chronicle of Higher Education Best Scholarly Book "A deeply insightful and thought-enriching work by one of the most original philosophers writing today. Imagining the End is acutely aware of the danger we stand in of finding ourselves on... Read More
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Jonathan Lear’s insightful meditation joins the end of the world to the endβ€”that is, the purposeβ€”of living. How to persist in the face of planetary catastrophe and the realization that even cultures can die? Lear sees in mourning an avenue of thriving and turns to a handful of moral exemplars to refine our sense of the good we can yet achieve.

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A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction

A Chronicle of Higher Education Best Scholarly Book

"A deeply insightful and thought-enriching work by one of the most original philosophers writing today. Imagining the End is acutely aware of the danger we stand in of finding ourselves on an uninhabitable planet. But Lear is also aware of how the consciousness of impending loss can bring out the illumination inherent in meaningful life, often occluded in day-to-day living."

–Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age

"Lear is a lovely and subtle writer, someone who has a rare capacity to introduce ways of seeing and interrogating the world that dignify our confusion and pain while also opening up new possibilities for moving forward."

–Daniel Oppenheimer, Washington Post

The range of Jonathan Lear's abilitiesβ€”as a philosopher and psychoanalyst who draws from ancient and modern thought, personal history, and everyday experience to help us think about how we can flourish in a world of flux and finitudeβ€”is on full display in Imagining the End. Lear masterfully explores how we respond to loss, crisis, and hope, considering our bewilderment in the face of planetary catastrophe. He examines the role of the humanities in expanding our imaginative and emotional repertoire.

How might we live, he asks, when we realise just how vulnerable the cultures to which we traditionally turn for solace might be? He addresses how mourning can help us thrive, the role of moral exemplars in shaping our sense of the good, and the place of gratitude in human life. Along the way, he touches on figures as diverse as Aristotle, Abraham Lincoln, Sigmund Freud, and the British royals Harry and Meghan. Written with Lear's characteristic elegance, philosophical depth, and psychological perceptiveness, Imagining the End is a powerful meditation on persistence in an age of turbulence and anxiety.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780674297333

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 September 2024

Country: United States

Imprint: Harvard University Press

Illustration: 5 tables

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 171g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Jonathan Lear is John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor on the Committee on Social Thought and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. His works include Wisdom Won from Illness, Radical Hope, A Case for Irony, and Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life.

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