A Map to the End of Time: Life's Journeys with Friends and Philosophers Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

A Map to the End of Time: Life's Journeys with Friends and Philosophers Book

In 1976, inspired by Tennyson's poem "Ulysses"--in which the hero of Greek mythology declares his intention late in life "to follow knowledge like a sinking star / beyond the utmost bound of human thought"--Ronald Manheimer began teaching philosophy to retired senior citizens, hoping to gain some insight into growing older through listening to their stories. The conversations collected in A Map to the End of Time demonstrate the fruitfulness of that project, putting a modern spin on the search for answers to the eternal questions. Although the dialogue is almost too good to be true in some spots, the analyses of texts like T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets (or more traditional philosophers such as Plato and Mill) that emerge from his stories are often both poignant and penetrating. Read More

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  • Product Description

    Tales both playful and profound exploring answers to life's Big Questions. Teaching philosophy to retired people should be a path to wisdom, Ron Manheimer thought. He was right, but in an unexpected fashion. His lively Socratic "dialogues" with older people led him into hilarious and provocative conversations with a colorful cast of fellow seekers: from his bon vivant Danish mentor Augie Nielsen to his strong-willed elderly student Hildegard, from his ironic teenaged daughter Esther to his wisecracking Uncle Joe. Like James Carse in Breakfast at the Victory, Manheimer reinvigorates the ancient tradition of using storytelling to explore truth. What is romantic love? How do we shape the stories we tell ourselves about our own pasts? Does the purpose of life become clearer in old age? How do we find common meanings across religious, ethnic, and generational divides? What is the essence of a person? What does it mean to live a "full" life? Showing how ideas and lives can illuminate one another, Manheimer's engaging narratives address these questions while providing an inviting exploration of the ideas of thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, and Martin Buber. A great teacher, Manheimer shows how these philosophers might provide the footgear for treading everyday paths of human experience, on our inevitable journeys to "the end of time."

  • 0393047253
  • 9780393047257
  • R Manheimer
  • 19 April 2000
  • W. W. Norton & Co.
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 352
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