Thoughts 1
Ascot Vale Counselling for healthier living...
Mark Roper, Ascot Vale, phone 0423 985 330 for consultations
When you need to talk to someone who is not family, who will not judge you, who is neutral and who will give you the time...
Mark Roper, Ascot Vale, phone 0423 985 330 for consultations
When you need to talk to someone who is not family, who will not judge you, who is neutral and who will give you the time...
|
Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London. He is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a 'philosophy of everyday life.' He’s written on love, travel, architecture and literature. His books have been bestsellers in 30 countries. At 23, he published Essays In Love (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004) and The Architecture Of Happiness (2006).
|
|
In August 2008, he was a founding member of a new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life.
In May 2009, he was a founding member of a new architectural organization called "Living Architecture". In October that year, de Botton was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture. In 2011, de Botton was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In May 2009, he was a founding member of a new architectural organization called "Living Architecture". In October that year, de Botton was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture. In 2011, de Botton was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The documentary film Status Anxiety (2004), presented by Alain de Botton and based on his book of the same name.
|
Episode 1: Socrates on Self-Confidence - Why do so many people go along with the crowd and fail to stand up for what they truly believe? Partly because they are too easily swayed by other people's opinions and partly because they don't know when to have confidence in their own. |
We are richer than ever before. We live longer, own more property and induldge in greater luxuries. So why aren't we getting any happier? One concern, above all, keeps us awake at night: status. Am I a success? Have I made it? Do I have the right car, the right clothes? Do people think I'm a loser and should I really care? Writer and presenter Alain de Botton challenges the idea that what we do, where we live and what we own, should define our status and determine our happiness. |
|
Episode 3: Seneca on Anger - Roman philosopher Lucious Annaeus Seneca (4BCE-65CE), the most famous and popular philosopher of his day, took the subject of anger seriously enough to dedicate a whole book to the subject. Seneca refused to see anger as an irrational outburst over which we have no control. Instead he saw it as a philosophical problem and amenable to treatment by philosophical argument. He thought anger arose from certain rationally held ideas about the world, and the problem with these ideas is that they are far too optimistic. Certain things are a predictable feature of life, and to get angry about them is to have unrealistic expectations.
|
Episode 2: Epicurus on Happiness - British philosopher Alain De Botton discusses the personal implications of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270BCE) who was no epicurean glutton or wanton consumerist,but an advocate of "friends, freedom and thought" as the path to happiness. |
|
|
Episode 4: Montaigne on Self-Esteem looks at the problem of self-esteem from the perspective of Michel de Montaigne (16th Century), the French philosopher who singled out three main reasons for feeling bad about oneself - sexual inadequecy, failure to live up to social norms, and intellectual inferiority - and then offered practical solutions for overcoming them. |
|
Episode 5: Schopenhauer on Love - Alain De Botton surveys the 19th Century German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) who believed that love was the most important thing in life because of its powerful impulse towards 'the will-to-life'. |
|
|
|
Episode 6: Nietzsche on Hardship - British philosopher Alain De Botton explores Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) dictum that any worthwhile achievements in life come from the experience of overcoming hardship. For him, any existence that is too comfortable is worthless, as are the twin refugees of drink or religion. |
WRITE TO ASCOT VALE COUNSELLING BY FILLING OUT THE FORM BELOW
