Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper, Alexander Dru, T.S. Eliot ISBN: 0-86597-210-9 Publisher: Liberty Fund, Inc. Pub. Date: January, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Most Important Book for Our Time
Comment: I cannot say enough about this wonderful and important book. It's message is simple: Western culture has taken upon itself a disposition toward life--and an outlook upon the world--of total work; of work-for-work's sake; or, if you prefer, we have internalized the Weberian protestant work ethic to a debilitating degree. In so doing, so Pieper suggests, we threaten to loose our very souls, both culturally and personally. We must make time for contemplation and reflection, and to, more generally, bask in the truth, beauty and goodness that is available to us in every facet of existence.
While Pieper is a Catholic philosopher in the Thomistic tradition, his arguments are solid and broad enough for those who may be non-religious, or of different faiths. Nevertheless, Christians will, I am sure, enjoy Pieper's articulate use of Christian inspired ideas and use of sources.
Those familiar with Heidegger will also appreciate Pieper's line of argumentation and the resemblances it has to the Heideggarian notions of Gelasenheit, Gestel, and Aletheia.
The second half of the book is a fantastic apology for, and description of, philosophy and the contemplative life.
In short, I cannot recommend this book enough for everyone. It's message is so needed now more than ever, as we have as a society become slaves of productivity. When I teach Introduction to Philosophy I will be sure to use this book!
One last note in brief: if anything bad can be said, it would have to be in regard to the multiple typos throughout the text. I do hope that St. Augustine Press makes an effort to rectify this problem, as it seems an injustice to such an important book. --And I certainly do not agree with one of the reviewers who suggested the translation renders the text obtuse; to the contrary I found it remarkably clear and cogent.
Rating: 4
Summary: Inspiring and Satisfying
Comment: Pieper begins with a common (and ironically ancient) human insight that people today have lost touch with their inner, spiritual lives, and something must be done before we become soulless drones. His solution is leisure, that contemplative and calm state that produces joy in the greatness of a full life. The highest expression of this leisure is the religious festival. I won't divulge any more of Pieper's philosophy; it is much better understood and appreciated by reading his well-written text. Sometimes Pieper soars and takes the reader with him into the loftiest reaches of man's soul and intellect, other times it seems like nothing more than the intellectual masturbation of a prentious, old-school European academic. Still, it is beautifully and succinctly written, which is very refreshing, and you could easily read it in a week. Especially recommended for the Catholic intellectual.
Rating: 5
Summary: Leisure, Contemplation, and Culture
Comment: The excellent Malsbury translation of Pieper's famous work brings together many of the themes found in other works of the author. For instance, leisure or stillness, is not to be thought of as leisure in the contemporary sense. Leisure is to be thought of in a framework of an teleology which is a contemplation of ends, or last things. Since man is made for union with God, human work is not seperate from this end. Today, the work of man is an end in itself, and philsophical anthropology and culture suffers. Pieper shows how this is a reorientation from the classical and scholastic world view which shared a common vision of anthropology as man seeking those things which are above. This book is a must read for all those who think modern culture is suffering from an identity crisis.
 |
Title: Happiness and Contemplation by Josef Pieper, Richard Winston, Clara Winston ISBN: 1890318310 Publisher: Saint Augustine's Pr Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
 |
Title: Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper, Lothar Krauth ISBN: 0898703026 Publisher: Ignatius Press Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart by Josef Pieper, Lothar Krauth ISBN: 0898703034 Publisher: Ignatius Press Pub. Date: December, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
 |
Title: Faith, Hope, Love by Josef Pieper ISBN: 0898706238 Publisher: Ignatius Press Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
 |
Title: Death and Immortality by Josef Pieper, Richard Winston, Clara Winston ISBN: 1890318183 Publisher: Saint Augustine's Pr Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
