Some of Setiya’s takes did help me in doing a little mental reframing. This is the only part of the book where I got much sense of a social context to midlife, and I appreciated that it mentioned other books I can look up.Įach of the following five chapters focuses on a particular aspect of midlife, for example, regret about the paths not taken, sadness over past mistakes and misfortunes, and fear of death and dying. The idea is not new, but the phrase is, having been introduced in 1965 by a psychoanalyst named Elliott Jaques. The first chapter gives a brief history of the concept of the midlife crisis. For all that, though, I’m still not sorry I read the book.
(I was surprised at how often class issues came to mind as I read.) Finally, I also have very mixed feelings about the idea of reasoning yourself out of emotional distress. In addition, I don’t belong to the intended audience of successful professionals. Thus, some of the ideas, if not their philosophical underpinnings, were already familiar to me. I’ve spent a lot of my life depressed, and I’m on the older side of middle age. I’m probably not the best audience for this book. The intended audience is clearly more or less successful professionals (the author is a philosopher at MIT) who are financially if not emotionally comfortable. The book is well-organized and focuses on using thought and reason to try to see things differently when you’re troubled. I think it says as much about the author’s mindset as it does about the problems he tackles, and this review may say as much about me as it does about the book. This book is framed as one philosopher’s search for answers to midlife’s unease.
Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, by Kieran Setiya
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