Pain, Loneliness, Injustice, Grief... Hope? With warmth and realism, MIT professor Kieran Setiya invites us to utilize the tools of philosophy to live well, while recognizing from the outset that the adversities of life are inevitable.

We have a tendency, particularly in the West, to believe that life is and should be good – that suffering should be avoided, that it is a sign that life is going wrong. Moral philosophers formulate theories on "the good life," from Aristotle's eudaimonia to popular new readings of Stoicism: the interpretations vary, but there is a common belief everywhere: that we should strive for the best in life.

Kieran Setiya sees things differently – he believes that what is largely missing from moral philosophy is an honest confrontation with the inherently difficult aspects of life. With rare exceptions, philosophers focus on pleasure, not pain, on friendship, not loneliness, on love, not grief, on achievement, not failure, on justice, not injustice.

Thus, in this book he addresses our sufferings and provides answers as to how philosophy can help us understand these experiences. He starts from the small scale, with personal sufferings – illness, loneliness, grief, personal failure – before turning his gaze outward, towards the structure of society, towards the ills of injustice and absurdity.

Along the way, Kieran examines the difference between happiness and the good life, and tackles the moral questions this distinction raises. With writing that is warm, accessible, and good-natured, Setiya reveals how the tools of philosophy can lighten the burden of human pain: he draws elements from both ancient and contemporary philosophy, as well as from fiction, memoir, cinema, history, comedy, social science, and from his own life.