Alain de Botton on Pessimism

11.30am, 22 March 2009
The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1HX

SOLD OUT 

Alain de Botton is a philosopher committed to the idea of making people happier. That's why - and there should be no paradox in this - he also believes that we should all learn to be extremely pessimistic. He will deliver a sermon designed to focus our minds on the absolute darkness of human experience, from the moment of birth to our last sigh, encompassing adolescence, marriage, childraising and career. He will take us through the thought of the Roman philosopher Seneca, who advised that one rise every morning and run through all the disasters that might befall one before sunset. Alain will challenge the great bourgeois promise that everyone can find happiness in love and work. While this is of course a theoretical possibility, Alain will argue that the chances of anyone succeeding in both areas (let alone in one) are extremely remote - and that it is therefore peculiar, and deeply cruel, to base our societies around these values. Indeed, in denying a place for misery and despair, the modern world denies us the possibility of collective consolation, condemning us instead to solitary feelings of shame and persecution. Come to celebrate the particular joys of pessimism. Handkerchiefs advised.

Alain de Botton is the author of numerous essayistic books including Essays in Love, How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel, Status Anxiety and most recently The Architecture of Happiness. Aside from writing, de Botton has been involved in making a number of television documentaries - and now helps to run a production company, Seneca Productions.

Tickets cost £10.
To book call 020 7833 1010 or e-mail info@theschooloflife.com