The Big Questions: How Philosophy Can Change Your Life

Lou Marinoff covers just about the whole range of potential areas where one might need practical philosophy for help. His message is that, barring a few exceptions, most disease, especially psychological disease, is not disease at all but what he terms dis-ease, or the mental malaise resulting from the way we perceive or respond to life's challenges. His prescription is application of philosophical teachings, from Socrates on down the line, and more or less cherry picking whichever philosophical style works. At the same time, Marinoff urges the reader to identify and define their own personal philosophy, so that this will be available as a resource ahead of time, before crisis strikes and catches one unprepared. As in a review I wrote of Marinoff's Plato, Not Prozac!: Applying Eternal Wisdom to Everyday Problems, I see how the eclectic approach is the approach that most people use anyway, moving from stoicism to perhaps transcendentalism as the situation requires. This is not necessarily a bad thing, even for those who are of orthodox faiths - it's just the way you may operate anyway; at least acknowledge it and use it to the greatest advantage. My quibble with Marinoff in this work is his lack of references. At times he makes claims and draws conclusions that require referencing whichever source he draws from, since he uses concepts and principles from other disciplines, like evolution and psychology. Is conditional fatherly love really the kind of love that a child needs (in addition to unconditional motherly love)? I have never heard of this position on parenting and would have liked to see references to the original sources.

I picked this book up never having read THE BIG QUESTION by Marinoff that is mentioned in other reviews. The ideas in this book are interesting and the writing style is thought provoking and funny. Its great!

I got this book in spanish...Its title is "Ask Plato"...Unless you have a friend named Plato this is going to be a very difficult task..But you can read the book and while doing so, maybe , like myself, you can find it to be very interesting, full of great ideas and interpretations. I think it is a book on human nature and also has a lot of recommendations on how to manage the everyday problems of life. It also shows up how people can manipulate you, if you mishandle these so called problems that in fact are the raw material of life. But what I feel is its greatest message is this: you are responsible for your life ... Good read.

I found this book to be interesting as well as thought-provoking. The author had each chapter listed as a question that he has found to be relevant to our lives at one point or another, such as "What is Love?", "Are You Offended, Or Are You Harmed?", "Must You Suffer?", and "How can You Handle Change?". In each chapter, the author explains how using philosophy can help you to answer these questions and apply them to your life in order to make positive changes within. He gives readers a new way to look at certain situations, like just because you are offended by someone, does not mean that any harm has been caused to you. You have the power to accept the offense or let it go. The author also gives examples of real-life situations taken from clients of his philosophical counseling practice. He applies what he has taught in each chapter to an event that we can understand more fully and how the process of using philosophy really can change your life.

Once in a great while in my reading, I come across a gem, and Chapter 2 of Lou Marinoff's new book is just one such! It is the best summarization of ethics for the layman, you might say, that I have come across. The distinction between ethical relativism and meta-ethical relativism was especially nicely done.