Michel Onfray Wisdom: Knowing how to live at the foot of a volcano
Michel Onfray Wisdom: Knowing how to live at the foot of a volcano
Used book in very good condition
How to behave in a civilization that threatens to collapse? By reading the Romans whose philosophy is based on examples to follow and not on hazy theories.
Wisdom is a kind of philosophical peplum in which we witness the death of Pliny the Elder and gladiatorial combats, grandiose suicides and ridiculous philosopher banquets, sublime friendships and assassinations that change the course of history. We meet colorful characters: Mucius Scaevola and his burning coal, Regulus and his sewn eyelids, Cincinnatus and his plow, Lucretius and his dagger. But also Seneca and Cicero, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.
This book answers very concrete questions: what use should we make of our time? How can we be firm in pain? Is it possible to age well? How can we tame death? Should we have children? What does it mean to keep our word? What does it mean to love or to love as a friend? Can we possess without being possessed? Should we be involved in politics? What does nature teach us? What does a morality of honor look like?
While waiting for the catastrophe, one can always live like a Roman: that is, upright and straight.
Michel Onfray has published over a hundred books and has been translated in 25 countries. He founded the Université populaire de Caen in 2002 and launched its web TV in 2016: michelonfray.com
Wisdom is the third part of the Brief Encyclopedia of the World, after Cosmos and Decadence.