The Reflective Life: Living Wisely With Our Limits (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "How should you live?..." (more)
Key Phrases: world values survey, person with perspective, reflective virtues, Reflective Wisdom Account, Ruben Iglesias, Martin Seligman (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tiberius offers keen insights on a wide scope of philosophical issues that promise to engage an equally wide audience."--Remy Debes, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Product Description

What can we do to live life wisely? You might think that the answer would be to think and reflect more. But this is not Valerie Tiberius's answer. On her view, when we really take account of what we are like - when we recognize our psychological limits - we will see that too much thinking and reflecting is bad for us. Instead, we need to think and reflect better. This means that we need to develop wisdom: we need to care about things that will sustain us and give us good experiences, we need to have perspective on our successes and failures, and we need to be moderately self-aware and cautiously optimistic about human nature. Further, we need to know when to think about our values, character, and choices, and when not to. A crucial part of wisdom, Tiberius maintains, is knowing when to stop reflecting and get lost in the experience.
The Reflective Life also considers the issue of how to philosophize about how to live. A recent trend in moral philosophy has been toward what is sometimes called "empirically informed ethics." This methodology has not yet caught on in normative ethics, primarily because we cannot conclude anything about what ought to be the case from the facts about what is. Tiberius agrees that this leap should be avoided, but argues that empirical psychology can inform our philosophical theories in interesting ways.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199202869
• ISBN-13: 978-0199202867
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,232,907 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and thought provoking, October 15, 2009

By	Nora L. Ishibashi (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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"The Reflective Life" is one of those serious books that can be read by people from a variety of different angles. Tiberius, a philosopher, argues for a good life based in reflection and action. In other words, she suggests that being self reflective is important but it is not possible, or desirable, to be reflective all the time. Her arguments are thought provoking and at the same time quite practical for ordinary life. That is what I like about this book. It bridges the space between the academic and the practical, providing depth of consideration that can be used in everyday life. As a psychotherapist, I see the importance of people being able to live their lives in a way that resonates with their deepest values and motives, and this requires taking time out to be reflective about our choices. Tiberius's book is an absorbing elucidation of this process.