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Summary; Chapter 1: Russell introduces the concept of happiness and explains why it is a crucial aspect of human life. Chapter 2: The author explores the causes of unhappiness, including envy, competition, and the fear of public opinion. Chapter 3: Russell discusses the role of boredom and its negative impact on mental well-being. Chapter 4
- Byronic Unhappiness
- Competition
- Boredom and Excitement
- Fatigue
This is the unhappiness that is supposed to be the stance of an intellectual who is simply too cool and educated to believe in what he perceives to be the “cheap” comforts of lesser men. Like Lord Byron, after whom Russell named this kind of unhappiness, “the men who hold this view are genuinely unhappy, but they are proud of their unhappiness, whi...
The feeling of competition, for Russell, is a sure way into an unhappy life. By competition, he doesn’t mean the necessary fight for survival among the very poor. He is focussing, in the whole book, not on those whose existential needs push them into situations of unhappiness, but on those who could,in principle, live better lives because they are ...
“We are less bored than our ancestors were, but we are more afraid of boredom. We have come to know, or rather to believe, that boredom is not part of the natural lot of man, but can be avoided by a sufficiently vigorous pursuit of excitement,” Russell writes. For him, a boring life is nothing to be afraid of. Instead, boredom, or rather monotony, ...
Fatigue, which for Russell means mental exhaustion, not only one of the body, is the next factor that causes unhappiness in our lives. “A great many worries can be diminished by realising the unimportance of the matter which is causing the anxiety,” he writes. This is a standard trope of many philosophies of life. The same we have heard from Epicur...
As Russell alludes, if we compare ourselves only to people who have achieved or have more than we have, we are likely to be unhappy. In Chapter 7, Russell describes ‘the sense of sin’ as one of the most important psychological causes of unhappiness due to the corresponding feeling of unease.
At the very end of his book titled The Conquest of Happiness, Russell offers two summary paragraphs in which he discusses the “happy life.”
Brief Summary in English: The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell offers insightful reflections on the pursuit of happiness in modern society. It explores the causes of unhappiness and provides practical advice on achieving a fulfilling and contented life.
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Mar 29, 2023 · Summary: “The Conquest of Happiness” is a self-help book written by the philosopher Bertrand Russell. The book explores the different factors that contribute to happiness, such as personal relationships, work, and leisure activities.
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Feb 14, 2021 · In his book “The Conquest of Happiness”, Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) presents a theory of happiness that is broadly Aristotelian. Russell thinks that what makes us happy is an active life,...
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