Lessons from Consolations of Philosophy

It is widely acknowledged that literature is one of the essential parts of culture, and there are a significant number of litterateurs who create a lot of beautiful works to the society and at the same time provide positive directions to the readers. Alain de Botton is a writer of this kind. He was born in Zurich and graduated from the University of Cambridge. Botton is undoubtedly a productive writer, and he creates many popular and famous works including Essays in Love, The Romantic Movement, Kiss and Tell and so on. Consolations of Philosophy was published in the year of 2000. It is actually a collection of essays, and it is unusual in that the work uses the European philosophical ideas to manage the nerve and disturbance of the modern people. Based on the personal experiences of six philosophers including Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, this book aims at resolving six kinds of situations including unpopularity, not having enough money, frustration, inadequacy, a broken heart and difficulties which all need to be consoled. Nowadays, students often cannot deal well with the problems of unpopularity, not having enough money and challenges. Besides, the students can get consolations and learn lessons from personal experiences and philosophical theories of philosophers such as Socrates, Epicurus and Nietzsche, which are excluded in Consolations of Philosophy.

Socrates teaches that people should learn how to insist on their own ideas. To be specific, Socrates believes that he should not give up his opinions when other people oppose his ideas. In his view, the opposing ideas do not mean that his own ideas are wrong (Alain 19). In other words, what he should concern about is not how many people oppose his ideas, but whether the reasons to oppose his ideas are enough and reasonable. When Socrates is in his seventieth, he receives a judge. The three Athenian think that Socrates is an evil person for he abets the younger generation to fight against their seniority. On the day of judging the guilt of Socrates, there are five hundred citizens in the jury, among which two hundred twenty ones think he is not guilty, and others believe he is guilty. The number of the two sides does not go too far from each other. Socrates does not show his nerve. Instead, he insists on his belief and his ideas about philosophy.

As a student, it is of great importance to learn from the philosophical theories of Socrates and learn to insist on one's own views. Many students in college may encounter such-and-such problems. Sometimes, they do not receive the support from parents and friends, and there are also some moments when they get criticism. In that case, many students might feel disappointed about themselves and that kind of reflection of the surrounding people indicates that the students are in fact putting forward in a wrong way. As a matter of fact, when facing similar challenges, the students can learn from Socrates. They do not need to follow what other people instruct them to do. On the contrary, they had better analyze the reasons why others oppose their ideas. At the same time, the students should explain their opinions to the other people in detail. Under that condition, there exists the possibility that the person who is opposing their ideas may have a more accurate understanding of the opinions and even change their thoughts.

Epicurus believes that money is not the necessary and primary element for happiness. Epicurus is a person with free and extraordinary ideas in his mind. He begins to spare many efforts in order to have a chance to listen to different kinds of philosophical lectures. However, he does not actually agree with the conceptions manifested in the lectures (Alain 48). As a result, he decides to organize his own point of view towards philosophy. As far as Epicurus is concerned, there are three necessary factors for happiness, and they are friendship, freedom and thought. The true friendship will never be influenced by any other outside elements such as appearance, money and son. Freedom means that one will not be restrained by the realistic factors such as money, and one can live a simple and free life where one does not need to prove oneself with the help of money. According to the theories of Epicurus, thought means that an individual has the kind of life which has already been analyzed carefully. Under that circumstance, one will own peaceful mind and will not get nervous easily. Furthermore, it is money that may cause unnecessary anxiety. It is quite apparent that money is not the major, primary and necessary for happiness.

A student can learn from the theories of Epicurus and uses these principles to cope with the anxiety caused by the reality of not having enough money. During university, there are surely a significant amount of students who have the same trouble of not having enough money. Objectively, money is a necessary element for life in that it helps people earn a living and get the satisfaction of materials. However, money is not the crucial element for happiness. If an individual only has money and has no true friendship, freedom and thought, there is no doubt that one will not be happy. On the contrary, if one has real friends, freedom and thought, one can get happiness from friendship, freedom and also the life after analysis. Consequently, it is of significance that students at school should learn from this kind of conceptions. They should understand that what they should treasure most is friendship, freedom and thought, for the three basic elements will help the students get out of the problem of not having enough money. Moreover, they can have a more accurate understanding about money. Money is not everything, and it is not the necessary and significant element for happiness. In addition, money may cause some unnecessary anxiety to human beings. Therefore, students at college should make friends and at the time make themselves clear about which ones are real friends. Meanwhile, they had better live simply and freely. Of course, they should have their own thoughts. To be accurate, they should objectively analyze their life and keep a peaceful attitude and mind.

In Nietzsche’s opinion, the difficulties can be regarded as the essential element for self-achievement and accomplishment. Honestly speaking, there are not many philosophers who advocate the close relationship between the difficulty and wise life. Conversely, many thinkers believe that smart and successful life usually has a close relation with the ways of relieving from difficulties. Nietzsche’s idea is different from other scholars. He believes that happiness and sorrow are close related (Alain 145). For example, one wants to be happy; then it is necessary that one needs to experience the sorrow in various difficulties. Throughout the history, numerous countries or areas go through different kinds of obstacles and challenges. Therefore, Nietzsche holds that difficulty is the basic and necessary elements for achievement and accomplishment. Without the difficult process, the individually can hardly finish their own self-accomplishment. In other words, the difficulty makes the achievement greater and more powerful.

The students need to learn from the lessons of Nietzsche and turn a positive attitude towards challenges, challenges and problems in daily life. It is natural that nearly every student may encounter different kinds of problems in their daily lives. When facing difficulties, many students turn a negative attitude towards it. They will turn to be anxious, bored and uncomfortable after they meet the difficulties. In fact, the negative sentiment has nothing to do with the good result and solutions. If one can turn a positive attitude towards the problems, things will be entirely different. In a case when a student can understand what Nietzsche indicates. The student will undoubtedly know that difficulty is not stumbling block for success. Instead, it is the stepping-stone for self-achievement. Rome is not built in one day, and nothing can be obtained quickly. If students in college can learn from this theory and change their attitude, the difficulty may not sound that complicated. In that case, the challenges can be solved more quickly for positive attitude and scientific solution are both helpful for dealing with problems and troubles.

Based on the above illustrations, it is evident that the personal experiences and philosophical ideas of the philosophers in Consolations of Philosophers have a significant impact on the development of the students at colleges. To begin with, the students can learn from the theories of Socrates. For instance, if one does not get the support of the surrounding people, one can research the opposing reasons and explain one's ideas to others. The students can learn to insist on their own ideas like Socrates even when receiving little support. In the second place, the students had better learn to cope with the situation of not having enough money from the theories of Epicurus. In the opinion of Epicurus, friendship, freedom and thought are the three elements of happiness. That is to say; money is not the essential elements of happiness and students does not need to spare too many efforts on the money. What’s more, students should also learn from the famous philosopher Nietzsche and turn a positive attitude towards difficulty.