How to live well when Life is Hard...

MIT philosophy professor makes a case for how positivity can be overratted.

“We all matter, just because we are human.”

I never made the connection that during the victorian era a human’s worth was based on the value provided, how much you could work, how self-sufficient you were, and independent. Worth was measured on productivity. It was during the Enlightenment that a human’s worth shifted to being worthy just because we exist.

Actually, this is all news to me. All of my life I have been functioning on my value being judged by others, systems, and external forces. The concept that there is value just in my existence is profound - and it has been a while since the Enlightenment. This leaves me feeling late. Perpetually.

Today, I had the good fortune to chat with philosopher Kieran Setiya about his new book Life Is Hard. In this conversation, we cover how philosophy fills the human need to ask questions and look for answers in similar ways to religion. Quenching our thirst for knowing what our place is within the cosmos and making sense of life. Philosophy operates without a divine fallback - and tackles existence in the context of our ever-evolving understanding of reality.

We all feel like we could be doing more. And yet, we are also overwhelmed by the magnitude of the scale of problems humanity and all living organisms face at this moment. As for knowing how to find a moral path, Kieran uses the beautiful guidepost of paying attention to what you care about and then caring about what comes up. And getting unstuck by doing things at the local level to help humans have a better future.

Kieran ends his book on the topic of hope and how it can be an empowering tool. Hope for me, even if cliche, is so important as a motivating force for the present and future. Without hope, in a very real sense, I don’t know if I could go on. Kieran’s take is WAY more complex and nuanced than I am able to fully tackle here. So I will leave you with this:

“What is hope anyway?”

We’re doing a GIVEAWAY for Life Is Hard.

Comment below if you’d like to receive a copy of Kieran’s book. His writing is like an outstretched hand to hold during tough times, and I’d love for you all to share in it as well.

I am super grateful to Kieran for his generosity and tenderness in sharing his experience and deep thoughts on morality.

As always, thank you so much for being here and sharing your time with me. I love doing this. Here, with you.

Sending lots of love and care, Carissa

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Here is Kieran’s bio from his site, if you want to know more about him… He also has a Substack:

I teach philosophy at MIT, working mainly in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. I am the author of Practical Knowledge, Reasons without Rationalism, and Knowing Right From Wrong.
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My new book, Life is Hard, is out from Riverhead Books (US) and Hutchinson Heinemann (UK). Combining philosophy with personal essay, the book has chapters on infirmity, loneliness, grief, failure, injustice, absurdity – and hope. It has been reviewed by the Economist, the New York Times, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, and others.

My last book was Midlife: A Philosophical Guide. It is available in bookstores and can be ordered online. My work on midlife has been featured in Aeon, Hi-Phi Nation, Five Books, and the New York Times. I have also written about baseball and philosophy, H. P. Lovecraft, stand-up comedy, and the meaning of life.