Philosophy in the Library: Avram Alpert on The Good-Enough Life
We live in a world oriented toward greatness, one in which we feel compelled to be among the wealthiest, most powerful, and most famous. For the April Philosophy in the Library, Avram Alpert explains why no one truly benefits from this competitive social order, and reveals how another way of life is possible—a good-enough life for all.
Avram Alpert shows how our obsession with greatness results in stress and anxiety, damage to our relationships, widespread political and economic inequality, and destruction of the natural world. He describes how to move beyond greatness to create a society in which everyone flourishes. By competing less with each other, each of us can find renewed meaning and purpose, have our material and emotional needs met, and begin to lead more leisurely lives. Alpert makes no false utopian promises, however. Life can never be more than good enough because there will always be accidents and tragedies beyond our control, which is why we must stop dividing the world into winners and losers and ensure that there is a fair share of decency and sufficiency to go around.
Avram Alpert is a writer and educator. He is an incoming fellow at The New Institute, Hamburg. His books include A Partial Enlightenment: What Modern Literature and Buddhism Can Teach Us about Living Well without Perfection. His work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Aeon.
Photo credit Anthea Behm
This series is curated and co-presented by Brooklyn Public Philosophers, aka Ian Olasov.
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