Midlife: A Philosophical Guide

A short, practical book that applies philosophy to the midlife crisis: the sense, often arriving in one's forties, that life has become repetitive, that options have closed and that achievements feel empty. He draws on John Stuart Mill's mental crisis at the age of twenty, when Mill realised that achieving his reforming goals would not make him happy. The fear of missing out is answered by seeing that the variety of incompatible goods is a reason for gladness rather than regret. On regret itself, he argues that we can be glad of how our lives went, mistakes included, because they made possible the people and things we love. On mortality, he finds the Epicurean argument that death is nothing to us only partly consoling. His central proposal distinguishes telic activities, aimed at completion, from atelic ones, such as walking or spending time with friends, which are complete at every moment, and urges giving more weight to the second.

It shows how ancient and modern philosophy can help with an ordinary, widely shared experience, and gives concrete ways to think about regret, missed chances and time.