A Philosophy of Evil by Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen

It's contentious whether or not modern individualism is one of the main causes of loneliness Loneliness shows why friendship and love are important The main factor correlated with /causing loneliness is lack of trust in other people (I recommend watching Mad Men, which explores exactly this idea, I think) other factors: your expect too much from your social interactions, you are too critical of yourself and others in social situations, you are too self-absorbed Loneliness can be understood as an emotion from an evolutionary standpoint, the advantage of having this emotion is that it tells you that your social needs are not being met There's an important distinction between 'alone' and 'lonely': the first is physical, the other is emotional you can be at a family dinner (not alone) but still feel lonely, and you can very well be alone in your room and not feel lonely I'm just going to list the main ideas for those of you who want to get a sense about the discussions in this book: It combines conceptual analysis with empirical findings, which is what you'd generally expect from a modern philosopher.

This is a solid philosophical work on loneliness. The result is a fascinating book about a complex and deeply meaningful part of our very being.

In a provocative move, he also argues that the main problem in our modern society is not that we have too much loneliness but rather too little solitude, and he looks to those moments when our loneliness can actually tell us profound things about ourselves and our place in the world. Svendsen looks at the importance of friendship and love, and he examines how loneliness can impact our quality of life and affect our physical and mental health. In this groundbreaking book, philosopher Lars Svendsen confronts loneliness head on, investigating both the negative and positive sides of this most human of emotions.ĭrawing on the latest research in philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences, A Philosophy of Loneliness explores the different kinds of loneliness and examines the psychological and social characteristics that dispose people to them. One need only turn on the radio to hear a crooner telling us just how lonesome we can be. You can be lonely sitting in the quiet of your home, in the still of an afternoon park, or even when surrounded by throngs of people on a busy street.

But the truth is that wherever there are people, there is loneliness. Loneliness is a difficult subject to address because it has such negative connotations in our intensely social world. For many of us it is the ultimate fear: to die alone.

A Philosophy of Evil by Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen