The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient PDF Download

Author: William B. Irvine
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393652505
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
“The ultimate mental fitness program” (David Heinemeier Hansson, coauthor of Rework), The Stoic Challenge teaches us how to respond to the challenges of our increasingly unpredictable age. In this practical, refreshingly optimistic guide, philosopher William B. Irvine explains how centuries-old wisdom can help us better cope with everything from the everyday stresses of modern living to its significant crises. The Stoic Challenge uniquely combines insights from ancient Stoics like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is Irvine’s surprisingly simple, updated “Stoic test strategy,” which teaches us how to dramatically alter our emotional response to life’s stumbling blocks. Not only can we overcome these obstacles?we can benefit from them, too.

Author: William Braxton Irvine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195327071
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Irvine looks at what modern science can tell about desire--what happens in the brain when one desires something and how animals evolved particular desires. He suggests that people who can convince themselves to want what they already have dramatically enhance their happiness.

Author: William Braxton Irvine
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199338876
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Great ideas often develop gradually after studying a problem at length--but not always. Sometimes, an insight hits like a bolt from the blue. For Archimedes, clarity struck while he was taking a bath. For Gustav Mahler, it came as the blades of his oars touched the water. And for Albert Einstein, it emerged while he was talking to a friend. Why do these moments of insight strike so suddenly? Why do they so often come to us when we are focused on something completely unrelated? And when great ideas "come to" us, where do they come from? In Aha!: The Moments of Insight that Shape Our World, philosopher William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good Life and On Desire, explores these epiphanies, from the minor insights that strike us all daily, to the major realizations that alter the course of history. Focusing on aha moments as they take place in five different domains--religion, morality, science, math, and art--Irvine provides case studies that shed light on the different ways epiphanies happen in the different domains, and on their differing social impact. Along the way, he describes some of the great aha moments in history, from ancient times to the present day. We like to think that our greatest thoughts are the product of our conscious mind. Irvine demonstrates, though, that it is our unconscious mind that is the source of our most significant insights, and that the role the conscious mind plays in eliciting these insights is to try, unsuccessfully, to solve certain problems. Only if the conscious mind is willing to do this--and thereby experience considerable frustration--is the unconscious mind likely to reward it with a breakthrough insight-that the conscious mind will then take credit for. Irvine explores not only the neuroscience of aha moments but also their personal and social ramifications. How does a person respond to having a breakthrough insight that goes against a dominant paradigm? And how does the world respond when she shares that insight? Irvine shows that in many cases, what is most remarkable about those who have had the great insights of human history is not their but their courage and perseverance in fighting for the world to accept those insights. Aha! is a must-read for cognitive scientists, intellectual historians, philosophers, and anyone who has ever been blown away by the ideas that enlighten us when we least expect it.

Author: William B. Irvine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199792623
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life. Using the psychological insights and the practical techniques of the Stoics, Irvine offers a roadmap for anyone seeking to avoid the feelings of chronic dissatisfaction that plague so many of us. Irvine looks at various Stoic techniques for attaining tranquility and shows how to put these techniques to work in our own life. As he does so, he describes his own experiences practicing Stoicism and offers valuable first-hand advice for anyone wishing to live better by following in the footsteps of these ancient philosophers. Readers learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. We learn from Marcus Aurelius the importance of prizing only things of true value, and from Epictetus we learn how to be more content with what we have. Finally, A Guide to the Good Life shows readers how to become thoughtful observers of their own lives. If we watch ourselves as we go about our daily business and later reflect on what we saw, we can better identify the sources of distress and eventually avoid that pain in our life. By doing this, the Stoics thought, we can hope to attain a truly joyful life.

Author: William B. Irvine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190665041
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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n A Slap in the Face, William Irvine undertakes a wide-ranging investigation of insults, their history, the role they play in social relationships, and the science behind them. He offers advice, based primarily on the writings of the Stoic philosophers, on how best to curb our own insulting tendencies and how to respond to the insults that are directed our way. A rousing follow-up to The Good Life, A Slap in the Face will interest anyone who's ever delivered an insult or felt the sting of one--in other words, everyone.

Author: William Irvine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Author: Anthony Mardiros
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
ISBN: 9780888622372
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Along with J.S. Woodsworth, William Irvine was one of the pioneers of socialism in Canada, a member of the radical Ginger Group, progenitor of the C.C.F. and N.D.P. In the wake of the First World War Irvine struggled relentlessly to organize Alberta farmers for political action. Elected to Parliament in 1921, he along with close friend Woodsworth were the sole labour representatives in the House: they worked incessantly against the monopoly power of large corporations and financial institutions. Together they laid the basis for a socialist challenge to the Eastern-dominated, two-party system in Canada. William Irvine: The Life of a Prairie Radical chronicles his immense contribution to the search for political alternatives in this country, a contribution that can still be felt in Canadian politics today.

Author: William Braxton Irvine
Publisher: Paragon House Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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The answers to these questions will be of interest not just to parents, but to anyone who laments the decline of childhood in America."--BOOK JACKET.

Author: MASSIMO. LOPEZ PAGLIUCCI (GREGORY.)
Publisher: Rider
ISBN: 9781846045967
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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The answers to our daily worries and anxieties - big or small - lie at the heart of Stoic philosophy. Live Like a Stoic is the essential guide to help us live the good life. It offers a year-long programme of 52 weekly exercises aimed at mastering an array of real-life troubles. Full of practical lessons and sections for journaling, it provides all the tools needed to overcome any life obstacles we might face. Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez have created a unique, personalised Stoic curriculum for a lifetime of practice, showing how relevant this ancient philosophy is to modern life.

Author: William D. Irvine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195363884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Recent scholarship on General Boulanger's 1888-89 bid for power in France's Third Republic has focused on the combination of socialism and national chauvinism in the movement supporting Boulanger's campaign, seeing in this alliance the left-wing origins of 20th-century fascism. In this groundbreaking new study, Irvine challenges that analysis, arguing that royalist and conservative supporters provided the crucial financial and electoral backing to the Boulanger movement. This places the origins of the exploitation of mass politics by extreme rightists in a much earlier period than has been supposed. Based on archival materials only recently made available to scholars, including the private papers of the French royal family, Irvine's book makes a major contribution to the debates in European history and sociology regarding the relationship between conservative interests and anti-democratic mass movements.