Mulcahy Conway Associates

Philosophy For Life

When philosophy rescued me from a bout of depression in my late teens and early twenties, I became fascinated by how ideas invented over 2,000 years ago can still transform lives today. I set out on a five-year journey to find out how people from all walks of life are using ancient philosophy to withstand crises, overcome adversity and build better lives.

Along the way, I met the founders of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and learned how they turned ancient philosophy into an evidence-based science. I met the director of the US Army’s ambitious new resilience programme, which uses techniques from philosophy to teach every American soldier inner strength. I met cops, gangsters, politicians, anarchists and astronauts, and heard how philosophy transformed their lives. And I travelled to modern philosophical communities built around millennia-old ideas: Epicurean communes, Stoic gatherings, Sceptic summer camps, Cynic occupations, even a Platonic sect whose members include the actor Hugh Jackman.

I also explored how classical ideas of the good life are at the heart of a new ‘politics of well-being’, in which governments try to guide their citizens towards happiness and fulfilment. In the book, I warn against trying to fit an entire society into one philosophy of the good life, arguing instead that Socrates and his descendants didn’t come up with one definition of the good life, but several.