Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness

In this engaging and informative six-part series, popular English philosopher Alain de Botton – bestselling writer and presenter of Status Anxiety – looks at six great European thinkers and how their messages can be applied to the problems of everyday life.

• Socrates on Self-Confidence: Alain shows how the ancient Athenian philosopher Socrates (470–399 BC) can help us acquire all the self-confidence we need to sort out what we really believe.
• Epicurus on Happiness: Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–270 BC) advocated 'friends, freedom and thought' as the path to happiness. Is this still relevant today?
• Seneca on Anger: A practical guide to adopting the principles of the Roman philosopher Lucious Annaeus Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD) who found ways to accommodate the stresses and dangers of his era, even when ordered to commit suicide!
• Montaigne on Self-Esteem: Alain discusses the issue of low self-esteem from the perspective of French thinker Michel de Montaigne (16th Century) and the philosopher's practical solutions for overcoming it.
• Schopenhauer on Love: A survey of the 19th Century German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) who believed that love was the most important thing in life because of its powerful impulse towards 'the will-to-life'.
• Nietzsche on Hardship Alain explores Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844–1900) dictum that any worthwhile achievements in life come from the experience of overcoming hardship.