Philip Slater’s The Pursuit of Loneliness :: Philip Slater Pursuit Loneliness Essays

Philip Slaters The Pursuit of Loneliness The purpose of Philip Slaters harbor The Pursuit of Loneliness is to reach some understanding of the forces which are unraveling our society for his readers (xxii). It is a jet conception that America is the best coun try on, an estimate which is substantiated by frugal figures. However, Americans are not happy. According to Slater, all societies frustrate certain pitying needs and gormandise others (because) compassionateity and any particular societys idea of what humanity should be is never very exact (2). In America, the gap between world and perception is growing farther and farther apart, at human expense. Americans work their entire lives for the future, in the pursuit of economic security, which ultimately leads to continued unhappiness in the present. American culture struggles more and more violently to note itself, (but) is less and less able to hide its fundamental antipathy towards human life and human satisfaction (122). Slaters book teaches people approximately the existence of the wide gap between the fantasies Americans live by and the realities they live in, in the hopes that this pass on inspire people to react in positive slipway (xxiii).Cooperation played a major role in the development of homo sapiens as the dominant species on earth. Americans do not understand its importance. It is intelligible to place an extremely high level of importance upon self reliance in a dog eat dog society, but individualism has croak fear and loathing of others. This motivates people to develop ways they can spend less cartridge holder with each other. The ultimate expression of individualism, driving a car, illustrates the occupation of denying the reality of human interdependence (30). Some people cant afford to heating plant their homes because we all want to ride expensive vehicles on displace roads at high speeds, killing one another and polluting the atmosphere (2). This situation cannot be repair ed until we accept the inherent power in cooperation. The more we try to solve our problems by increasing personal autonomy, the more we find ourselves at the mercy of these mysterious, impersonal, and upstage mechanisms that we have ourselves created (48).A large part of this problem is that many another(prenominal) Americans buy into the ploys of capitalism, sacrificing happiness for material gain. Americans have voluntarily created, and voluntarily maintained, a society which increasingly frustrates and aggravates them (8). Societys uncontrolled development results in an bathetic sense of scarcity which ensures a steady flow of output (78).Philip Slaters The Pursuit of Loneliness Philip Slater Pursuit Loneliness EssaysPhilip Slaters The Pursuit of Loneliness The purpose of Philip Slaters book The Pursuit of Loneliness is to reach some understanding of the forces which are unraveling our society for his readers (xxii). It is a common conception that America is the best count ry, an idea which is substantiated by economic figures. However, Americans are not happy. According to Slater, all societies frustrate certain human needs and satiate others (because) humanity and any particular societys idea of what humanity should be is never very exact (2). In America, the gap between reality and perception is growing farther and farther apart, at human expense. Americans work their entire lives for the future, in the pursuit of economic security, which ultimately leads to continued unhappiness in the present. American culture struggles more and more violently to maintain itself, (but) is less and less able to hide its fundamental antipathy towards human life and human satisfaction (122). Slaters book teaches people about the existence of the wide gap between the fantasies Americans live by and the realities they live in, in the hopes that this will inspire people to react in positive ways (xxiii).Cooperation played a major role in the development of homo sapiens as the dominant species on earth. Americans do not understand its importance. It is understandable to place an extremely high level of importance upon self reliance in a dog eat dog society, but individualism has become fear and loathing of others. This motivates people to develop ways they can spend less time with each other. The ultimate expression of individualism, driving a car, illustrates the problem of denying the reality of human interdependence (30). Some people cant afford to heat their homes because we all want to ride expensive vehicles on crowded roads at high speeds, killing one another and polluting the atmosphere (2). This situation cannot be repaired until we accept the inherent power in cooperation. The more we try to solve our problems by increasing personal autonomy, the more we find ourselves at the mercy of these mysterious, impersonal, and remote mechanisms that we have ourselves created (48).A large part of this problem is that many Americans buy into the pl oys of capitalism, sacrificing happiness for material gain. Americans have voluntarily created, and voluntarily maintained, a society which increasingly frustrates and aggravates them (8). Societys uncontrolled development results in an artificial sense of scarcity which ensures a steady flow of output (78).