|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Product Description
One of the most important philosophy titles published in the twentieth century, Josef Pieper's Leisure, the Basis of Culture is more significant, even more crucial, today than it was when it first appeared more than fifty years ago. This edition also includes his work The Philosophical Act. Leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure -- a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture. Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture -- and ourselves.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
philosophically engaging short book, Jun 10 2010
By J. Jones - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Paperback)
I read this short book in one sitting and felt inspired at the end of each chapter. Pieper encourages us to escape the routine of our work life to contemplate the transcendental. Pieper's question, "what are we doing here and now?" gave me pause to think about my existence and purpose. Throughout the work, Pieper uses the metaphor of the "dome" that imprisons people into a life focused on work. While work is necessary to fulfill basic needs, modernity has made it into something that has stolen what it means to be human. Pieper begs us to throw open the window to seek the metaphysical divine and to engage in philosophical deliberation, which provides hope and wonder to an otherwise totalizing life.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two for the price of one, July 11 2011
By Lee Benson - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Paperback)
This book is really two in one. The first "Leisure, The Basis of Culture" and "The Philosophical Act."The first book starts with the premise that "the foundation of Western culture is leisure." Something not easily appreciated in our hectic life. Yet the end point of this leisure is not laziness but celebration. "The most festive festival it is possible to celebrate is divine worship." I never thought of liturgy as leisure before I read this book. Pieper makes a wonderful point that liturgy does not serve any pratical purpose. Rather liturgy carries us into another dimenension. "Carried away out of the straitness of the workaday world into the heart of the universe."
In the second book, Pieper asks the question. "What does philosophizing mean?" For Pieper it means to step outside our everday world, "to see the stars above the roof, to preserve our apprehension of the universality of things in the midst of the habits of daily life." Wonderful!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!, April 12 2011
By Fr. Dismas Sayre, OP - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Paperback)
Pieper at his usual excellent self. He asks some insightful questions about our modern world, and about how we misunderstand the purpose of leisure, sloth, and Sabbath. The second half was not quite as striking, but still great.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
