Colin Feltham, Keeping Ourselves in the Dark, Nine-Banded Books, 2015.
In Keeping Ourselves in the Dark, psychotherapist cum “anthropathologist” Colin Feltham presents a kaleidoscopic survey of the maladies, confusions, and derangements that perturb our vaulted quest to wrest meaning from the abyss. Rejecting rose-tinted clichés and niceties, he affirms the pessimist’s verdict – that every glass is empty and there is nothing to be done. But while he offers a disconsolate account of the human predicament, Feltham moves beyond miserablist lamentation, punctuating his study with disarming notes of conversational buoyancy and humor as he struggles to understand brighter views while asking impertinent questions concerning the myriad social anxieties, absurdities, and taboos that vex our era. In a gallows tour thus threaded with provocative digressions on a spiraling range of subjects ill-suited for polite discussion, Feltham rests his contention that while much of life is indeed dark, unless we bail out early we are left to find ways to survive and retain our sanity.
If you do not count yourself among the cheery-minded majority, if you find you can’t bring yourself to believe the propaganda of religion or positive psychology, if you’re not “lovin’ it” as much as you’re entreated to, enter this portal of ironic Zapffean consolation now.
Colin Feltham, Failure (The Art of Living), Routledge, 2014.
read it at Google Books
Failure, success's ugly sister, is inevitable - cognitively, biologically and morally. We all make mistakes, we all die, and we all get it wrong. A chain of flaws can be traced through all phenomena, natural and human. We see impending and actual failures in individual lives, in marriages, careers, in religion, education, psychotherapy, business, nations, and in entire civilizations. And there are chronic and imperceptible failures in everyday domains that most of the time we barely notice, often until it is too late. Colin Feltham expores what constitutes failure across a number of domains. He takes guidance from the work of such diverse philosophers and thinkers as Diogenes, Epictetus, Augustine, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Cioran and Ricoeur, while also drawing on the insights of artists and writers such as van Gogh, Arthur Miller, Philip Larkin, Samuel Beckett, Charles Bukowski and Philip Roth. Precursors and partial synonyms for failure can be seen in the concepts of hamartia, sin, fallenness, non-being, false consciousness and anthropathology. Philosophy can help us but is itself, in its reliance on language and logic, subject to inherent flaws and failures. It is the very pervasiveness yet common denial of failure which makes it a compelling topic that cries out for honest analysis. We live in a time when the cliche of failed Marxism may be segueing frighteningly (for some) into the failure of 'selfish capitalism', in a time of geopolitical uncertainty and failure to address the dire need for agreement and action on climate change. But many of us are also painfully aware of our own shortcomings, our own weakness of will and lack of authenticity. Trying to identify where the lines may be drawn between individual responsibility, social policy, and historical and biological dark forces is a key challenge in this fascinating book.
'An erudite and exceedingly well-written treatise.' - The Psychologist
'His quest to write a book about concepts of failure and where they come from was driven by alternating views of his own interesting life (his pre-academic background includes spells working for the mental health charity MIND and counselling in a bank), and by the urge to provide a 'corrective to the hype about happiness - the many self-help books around which purport to show the 'road to happiness'.' Prof Feltham's research into what constitutes failure took him from philosophers like Diogenes and Saint Augustine through to Sartre and Camus and other thinkers, artists and poets. Failure is widely present across all these domains, yet we tend to deny our failures, he says.' - Yorkshire Post
Colin Feltham, Failure (The Art of Living), Routledge, 2014.
read it at Google Books
Failure, success's ugly sister, is inevitable - cognitively, biologically and morally. We all make mistakes, we all die, and we all get it wrong. A chain of flaws can be traced through all phenomena, natural and human. We see impending and actual failures in individual lives, in marriages, careers, in religion, education, psychotherapy, business, nations, and in entire civilizations. And there are chronic and imperceptible failures in everyday domains that most of the time we barely notice, often until it is too late. Colin Feltham expores what constitutes failure across a number of domains. He takes guidance from the work of such diverse philosophers and thinkers as Diogenes, Epictetus, Augustine, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Cioran and Ricoeur, while also drawing on the insights of artists and writers such as van Gogh, Arthur Miller, Philip Larkin, Samuel Beckett, Charles Bukowski and Philip Roth. Precursors and partial synonyms for failure can be seen in the concepts of hamartia, sin, fallenness, non-being, false consciousness and anthropathology. Philosophy can help us but is itself, in its reliance on language and logic, subject to inherent flaws and failures. It is the very pervasiveness yet common denial of failure which makes it a compelling topic that cries out for honest analysis. We live in a time when the cliche of failed Marxism may be segueing frighteningly (for some) into the failure of 'selfish capitalism', in a time of geopolitical uncertainty and failure to address the dire need for agreement and action on climate change. But many of us are also painfully aware of our own shortcomings, our own weakness of will and lack of authenticity. Trying to identify where the lines may be drawn between individual responsibility, social policy, and historical and biological dark forces is a key challenge in this fascinating book.
'An erudite and exceedingly well-written treatise.' - The Psychologist
'His quest to write a book about concepts of failure and where they come from was driven by alternating views of his own interesting life (his pre-academic background includes spells working for the mental health charity MIND and counselling in a bank), and by the urge to provide a 'corrective to the hype about happiness - the many self-help books around which purport to show the 'road to happiness'.' Prof Feltham's research into what constitutes failure took him from philosophers like Diogenes and Saint Augustine through to Sartre and Camus and other thinkers, artists and poets. Failure is widely present across all these domains, yet we tend to deny our failures, he says.' - Yorkshire Post
- Andreas Moss
Colin Feltham, What's Wrong With Us? The Anthropathology Thesis, Wiley, 2007.
What’s wrong with us? Professor Colin Feltham believes that the current crises of the human condition are symptoms of a chronic wayward tendency which he terms ‘anthropathology’. This interdisciplinary look at the zeitgeist of crisis traces the roots of human suffering, exploring the contemporary issues of human violence, deceit, patriarchy, abuse, irrationality and greed. Our human anthropathology is placed at the heart of all such problems. Echoing the pessimism of Schopenhauer, Cioran, Beckett, Gray and others, Feltham nevertheless insists that answers may be formulated through confrontation. Challenging and enlightening for professionals, academics and students, What's Wrong With Us? is also a fascinating read for anyone with a general interest in our current social state.
review by Christopher Boyle
Colin Feltham: Whatever happened to critical thinking?
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