Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering
Why do we suffer? Why do people die young? Is there any point to our physical and emotional pain? Do horrors like hurricanes have meaning? In Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, I tackle the hardest question of all. My goal is not to wallow in misery but to be alive to existence.
My book is just as likely to draw lessons from Bugs Bunny as from Confucius, from my time teaching philosophy to prisoners as from Hannah Arendt’s attempts to come to terms with the Holocaust. Ultimately, I claim that to be fully human means to embody a mysterious paradox: we must simultaneously accept suffering and oppose it. When we do, we go on the terrific adventure of being alive.
Praise
“In this eminently readable but subtle book, Scott Samuelson opens up new ways of thinking about suffering. Weaving together philosophical reflections with compelling stories of his time teaching in prison, Samuelson shows us the various roles undeserved suffering play our lives, and indeed in life itself. This book is a necessary read for those of us who want to reflect on the place of pain in human existence.”
—Todd May, author of A Fragile Life
