“Happiness is believed to contain leisure,” Aristotle tells us, “for we interact in enterprise so that we could have leisure, and we interact in warfare so that we could have peace.”
A life spent at work is sort of a nation in a perennial state of warfare. Many individuals consider that One of many issues that makes life value dwelling is the time we spend away from work doing the issues we get pleasure from, gaining new experiences and pursuing our pursuits. Within the summary, these actions will look a lot the identical for us all—we cook dinner, eat, drink, train, look after others, spectate, play, and journey—however the method during which we carry out these actions and the importance we attribute to them will probably be distinctive to every particular person, household, or tradition.
The Weblog of the APA is launching a brand new collection entitled On a regular basis Way of life. The aim of this collection is to realize some philosophical perspective on the on a regular basis actions that model our lives, which we share in frequent however carry out in several methods and for various causes. A few of the matters that the collection hopes to debate embody Meals & Drink, Trend & Health, Relationships, Hobbies, and Trip & Journey. This record just isn’t exhaustive, neither is it meant to narrowly restrict the scope of the collection. As a brand new collection, the ground is open for contributors to use the conceptual frameworks and instruments of research which might be attribute of the apply of philosophy to the grounded and routine topics that occupy us on a day-to-day foundation.
What’s the want, one would possibly surprise, for such a collection? What could be gained by inspecting these matters by means of a philosophical lens? This query is pure given the longstanding caricature of the thinker as a head-in-the-clouds mental, involved extra with speculative metaphysics than the ins and outs of each day life. Certainly, Thales, whom many take into account to be the primary thinker, is alleged to have been so distracted in the future whereas gazing on the stars that he fell right into a nicely. In search of data of the heavens, he missed what was beneath his toes.
This collection is motivated by the idea that philosophy does, opposite to this image, have quite a bit to supply in relation to reflecting as regards to each day life. It goals partially at demonstrating the relevance of philosophical considering to the problems that confront us in our day-to-day lives, in order that we don’t find yourself, like Thales, caught in a nicely.
The On a regular basis Way of life Sequence of the APA Weblog is designed to discover the methods during which philosophy can shed gentle upon the essential actions and pursuits that model our lives. Philosophers of all persuasions are invited to submit posts concerning problems with concern to them. Please contact Sequence Editor, Dr. Adam Woodcox at adam.woodcox@gmail.com or Editor of the Philosophy Beat, Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall by way of sabrinamisirhiralall@apaonline.org with potential submissions.
Adam Woodcox
Adam Woodcox is an Teacher in Communications and Liberal Arts Research on the Southern Alberta Institute of Know-how. He acquired his PhD from the College of Western Ontario. His analysis focuses on historical Greek philosophy.
