Simon Blackburn

Mirror, Mirror (eBook, ePUB)

The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

From the author of Think, an enlightening and entertaining exploration of narcissism and self-esteem

Everyone deplores narcissism, especially in others. The vain are by turns annoying or absurd, offending us whether they are blissfully oblivious or proudly aware of their behavior. But are narcissism and vanity really as bad as they seem? Can we avoid them even if we try? In Mirror, Mirror, Simon Blackburn, the author of such best-selling philosophy books as Think, Being Good, and Lust, says that narcissism, vanity, pride, and self-esteem are more complex than they first appear and have innumerable good and bad forms. Drawing on philosophy, psychology, literature, history, and popular culture, Blackburn offers an enlightening and entertaining exploration of self-love, from the myth of Narcissus and the Christian story of the Fall to today's self-esteem industry.

A sparkling mixture of learning, humor, and style, Mirror, Mirror examines what great thinkers have said about self-love-from Aristotle, Cicero, and Erasmus to Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and Iris Murdoch. It considers today's "me"-related obsessions, such as the "selfie," plastic surgery, and cosmetic enhancements, and reflects on connected phenomena such as the fatal commodification of social life and the tragic overconfidence of George W. Bush and Tony Blair. Ultimately, Mirror, Mirror shows why self-regard is a necessary and healthy part of life. But it also suggests that we have lost the ability to distinguish-let alone strike a balance-between good and bad forms of self-concern.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Seitenzahl: 224
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. März 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781400849956
• Artikelnr.: 40436353

Autorenporträt

Simon Blackburn taught philosophy for many years at the University of Oxford, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the University of Cambridge. He is the author of many notable books, including Think and Being Good.

Rezensionen

Mirror, Mirror is a short, relaxed book, for the educated lay reader. . . . Reading him, we feel as if we were sitting in a comfortable chair, after dinner, listening to our friend Blackburn tell us not so much about politics or social history as about what lies behind them: morals--that is, what we owe to others, as opposed to what we want for ourselves. . . . [H]is prose is clear. It is also unostentatious.--Joan Acocella, New Yorker