Charlottesville Words

Coming to New Dominion Bookshop:

Marietta McCarty will discuss and sign copies of her book

How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most

Thursday, December 10 at 5:30 PM

“Where’s my book?” asked sheepish adults, confessing that they were reading Little Big Minds: Sharing Philosophy with Kids for their personal enjoyment even though it was intended for grown-ups to use with children. “At last I can ‘do’ philosophy,” they beamed. Now, at last…. Here’s your very own book!

The glass half full that graces the cover of How Philosophy Can Save Your Life captures the book’s heart. Mental vigor and clarity has the power to change how we view the world and our place in it. Our outlooks shift when we think as if for the first time about the meaning and the value of the ten key ideas. Priorities rearrange themselves naturally. Good conversations and quiet reflection reveal new insights as well as old knowledge somehow forgotten. What is good living? This book is an invitation to every reader to ask that question and to enjoy unraveling the answer, piece by piece, and to have fun along the way. While it can be enjoyed alone, it is designed for respectful conversation in communities of any number. Diverse contributions in dialogue resemble the colors of a prism, all shedding more light on the topic. Personal, private reflection is thereby more productive. Ah, the realization that there are so many stories, such varied ways of seeing a vast world that has room for all. We gather together and come to know each other better.

The ten big ideas: simplicity, communication, perspective, flexibility, empathy, individuality, belonging, serenity, possibility, and joy. What do they mean, really mean? If we know better what communication is, then we will be better at it. If we think clearly about simplicity, we can indeed slow down and savor the moment. Understanding perspective enhances our own. Possibilities can be realized when we recognize them and learn to embrace opportunities. Thriving on a sense of belonging while retaining individuality can be achieved with new appreciation for what it means to belong and what it means to be true to one’s self. Empathy turns out to be smart and flexibility comes more easily as we think hard about their essence. Serenity and joy regardless of circumstance can be ours for the asking. Here’s how….

Each chapter explores one idea from many angles. First, the author presents the concept and probes for its center, explains its ongoing appeal in her philosophical circles, and paves the way for the investigation into simplicity, serenity, etc. Next, two philosophers are presented whose theories are perfect tools for close examination of possibility, empathy…. These philosophers range from ancient to modern, female to male, and represent a broad array of cultures: Plato and Jane Addams, Simone de Beauvoir and Shunryu Suzuki, Bertrand Russell and Mary Wollstonecraft, Martin Luther King and the Dalai Lama. Get ready because….

Things heat up now! Discussion questions are offered to spark your conversation. Are you an attentive listener? Does empathy come naturally to you? Is the pull of the crowd hard to resist? Have you forgotten reasons to be grateful? What part is yours to play in the world? Why had you given up on possibility? When does your heart fill? The party continues when ….

You mix and match engaging ways to continue your exploration of the slowly unfolding concept. Music of all kinds awaits: Mozart and Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash and Miriam Makeba, Miles Davis and Edith Piaf, Cat Power and Bach…. Poetry beckons: Mary Oliver and Shakespeare, Rumi and Seamus Heaney, Rita Dove and Dylan Thomas, Gabriela Mistral and Thich Nhat Hanh…. Prose perhaps: Maya Angelou and Frank McCourt, Gandhi and Bobbie Ann Mason, Steve Martin and Toni Morison, Tove Jansson and Billie Jean King…. Popcorn and a film, documentary or drama, feet up: The Hobart Shakespeareans and Hamlet, Planet Earth and A Doll’s House, Death of a Salesman and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Emmanuel’s Gift and The Night of the Iguana….

Finally, individual and group activities are suggested, maybe one for today and one to do as a group later. All the resources used are listed at the end of each chapter.

There is no right way to use this book—plenty of ideas are offered in the introduction along with ways to start your philosophy group. Begin your evening with a movie or discussion questions if you like. Listen to music as you reflect on the concept under investigation perhaps. It’s your book now to adapt as you practice the art of clear thinking. If the reader gains as much insight and has as much fun as the author did in conversing and thinking through the ideas while writing this book, then philosophy will bring much to your life. The glass can be more than half full.

About the author:

Author of national bestseller Little Big Minds, a guide for adults to share philosophy with children, Marietta McCarty is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. With the publication of How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most, she brings philosophy alive for everyone interested in the world of ideas. Her philosophy circles ring with voices engaged in hearty conversation, the dialogue laced with laughter in a comfortable setting. Her belief in the benefits of clear thinking, rich conversation, and quiet reflection is confirmed by her readers, in testimony from her child philosophers and her college students, while hosting groups of all kinds in Charlottesville, and wherever she travels with her philosophical tool kit. Marietta’s conviction that a fulfilling, contented life stems from vigor and clarity of mind drew her to her vocation in philosophy. That an open, inquisitive mind enlarges the capacity of the heart and breeds peace ensures that she will keep her shingle out.

In her chapter titled “Love Yourself Enough,” included in the Jossey-Bass book Promoting Community Renewal Through Civic Literacy and Service Learning, the author reflects upon her role as Coordinator of Service Learning for the PVCC campus and its entire service region. For over twenty years she has served on occasion as an adjunct professor for Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, teaching group tutorials.

Marietta enjoyed her tennis-playing, ball-throwing, book-reading, ocean-loving childhood in Richmond, Virginia. For fourteen summers, she was the director of the Blue Ridge Tennis Camp outside Charlottesville for children and adults, welcoming campers from many countries and throughout the US. A Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude graduate in philosophy from Hollins College, she was inducted into the Hollins Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. She received her Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia.