Why We Need Comfort

On the trail of a human need

by Jean-Pierre Wils

Description

— The accompanying book to the Kassel exhibition "Trost" ("Comfort") in spring 2023 — A book to counter desolation in these challenging times — What comfort is and why people need it "Comfort" is one of those words that has a somewhat tarnished reputation: cold comfort, false comfort, consolation prize, someone is not to be comforted ... "Action instead of comfort" is the maxim; "therapy instead of resignation" the variant. There is something old-fashioned about comfort. And still we long for it; people have always looked for "sources of comfort". In the midst of the climate and global political upheavals of our time, in the middle of a Ukraine war, a play recently celebrated at the Salzburg Festival is called, "Crazy for Consolation". People seek comfort because just helping is no longer helping; they are at the end of their abilities. "Comfort" would appear to be a gift in both senses of the word. But "comfort" is a mystery. Jean-Pierre Wils attempts to solve it in this essay.

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Author Biography

Jean-Pierre Wils is one of the most influential philosophers in the German-speaking world. He studied philosophy and theology in Leuven (Belgium) and Tübingen, and lectures in Philosophical Ethics and the Philosophy of Culture at Radboud University in Nijmegen (Netherlands). Since 2021, he has been the publisher of Crossroads. Texts for Scepticism and Critique at Hirzel. In 2020, Hirzel also published his book "Facing Death. Suicide as Last Emancipation?" and in the spring of 2022, to great acclaim, "The Great Rift. How society drifts apart and how to counter it".

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Non-fiction books (f.e. society, health, ecology, evolution, philosophy) specialist books (f.e chemistry, physics, ancient history, history of science/medicine, German studies)

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Hirzel
  • Publication Date March 2023
  • Orginal LanguageGerman
  • ISBN/Identifier 9783777633695
  • FormatPaperback
  • Primary Price 22 EUR
  • ReadershipProfessional and Scholarly
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Original Language TitleWarum wir Trost brauchen. Auf den Spuren eines menschlichen Bedürfnisses
  • Edition1st edition 2023
  • Copyright Year2023

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