At some point or another, the midlife crisis comes for us all. But what is it really about? Is it a sense of our mortality, the fear of not achieving what we hoped to, or the sinking feeling that we’ve been spending our whole adult lives chasing our tails? And what is the solution: a new car, a new life goal, or the choice to give up goals altogether? Ken and Josh entertain the possibilities with Kieran Setiya from MIT, author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide.
Ken and Josh try to define the “midlife crisis.” Does everyone experience it, and can it happen in one’s life at any time? Josh thinks that the midlife crisis is unique to midlife, since it comprises the recognition that death is imminent. Ken considers “living in the moment” as a solution to the mid-life crisis, but he fails to convince Josh that this is a comprehensive remedy. Instead, Josh maintains that life is a necessarily goal-oriented and project-driven venture.
Our hosts welcome Kieran Setiya, a professor of philosophy at MIT, to the show. Ken asks Kieran: how does the midlife crisis differ from existential crises? Kieran agrees with Josh’s earlier point, observing that midlife crises tie to life’s temporal structure. He adds that we exhaust our goals by either achieving or failing to achieve them. For this reason, people must constantly set new goals for themselves, but this process can accumulate into a “relentless grind” of project-setting. Kieran believes that a Schopenhauerian understanding of desire can help us to understand the tenets of midlife crises.
The philosophers open the discussion to callers and consider solutions to the midlife crisis. Kieran advises that we value our lives as a process or journey. We should value and engage in activities that may not have an end or “goal” but give our lives meaning, according to him. Kieran helpfully distinguishes this suggestion from advice to “live in the moment.” Finally, the philosophers consider change in perspective and meditation as other remedies to the midlife crisis.
Roving Philosophical Reporter (Seek to 5:50): Liza Veale files a report on the nature of mid-life crisis and contrasts empirical research on it to its portrayal in movies. While movies suggest that people’s happiness in life declines with time, empirical research shows that happiness curves back up after the mid-life dip.
Sixty-Second Philosopher (Seek to 46:58): Ian Shoales considers how men and women may experience the mid-life crisis differently and discusses tropes of the mid-life crisis in popular culture.
Comments (4)
Harold G. Neuman
Saturday, December 2, 2017 -- 12:20 PM
Mid-life---another passage...I suppose that mid-life, whenever it comes, is one of those exigencies of human being. I've been reading a lot about consciousness lately (after having thought about it for far longer). I'm not certain that we are ever satisfied with our lives and what we have or have not made of them. Oliver Sacks died in 2015, after having a long and productive life. His book, The River of Consciousness, seems to reveal a man who was comfortable in his own skin and one who was, by many measures, happy with what he had accomplished. I never met Dr. Sacks. But his work has fascinated and amused me for many years. I have never owned a new car. Could not see any percentage in it. The immediate depreciation rate makes it non-negotiable for me personally. I do have a life goal which may or may not be realized: publication of some of my own written thoughts and epiphanies. Not for the money or the prestige, though. Just because I think I can...I think Oliver Sacks would have appreciated that aspiration.
Tim Smith
Sunday, March 8, 2020 -- 5:10 PM
I really like Kieran's KieranI really like Kieran's, “The Problem of ‘Living in the Present.’” The New York Times. There he makes the distinction between telic and atelic thought and action.
Pondering midlife is an atelic action. There is no end to it. Maybe no reason to do it, but do it I do.
Kieran is deep. I would like to hear more of his take on meaning, which is the crux of midlife angst. This show ended too early. I wish I had time to read more on this. I don't. But I would listen more and perhaps think more ... especially about atelic thoughts.
Harold G. Neuman
Tuesday, March 2, 2021 -- 3:17 PM
Further and lastly., if midFurther and lastly., if mid-life is where most of us find meaning, what is the point of getting there? Are we to accept a role of obsolescence, only succumbing to realization, after no one wants to hear what we have to say? I know people who remain contributory and productive, into their eighth decades. Whether this matters appears to depend upon their credentials, not upon their iintrinsic or autodidactic knowledge. item: Harry Chapin's grandfather was an autodidacr. Never earned a college degree. His name was Edmund Burke....looked a little like Harry. Intensity in the eyes...
If you think you know about meaning, wait a bit. You'll get there. Always happens. Good luck.
Harold G. Neuman
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 -- 7:22 AM
Thinking now about the postThinking now about the post on equality of ages and what I wrote about that. No retractions. Meaning, though, is gained---possibly earned, depending on whether some effort was expended. Something that meant one thing to us @ twenty-five may obtain new meaning by fifty. If effort was necessary, so much the better: it shows there was interest enough to make it so---and a realization not previously extant. Maturity arrives in its own good time. When we are frustrated by lack of maturity, in ourselves or others, we are impatient with what must come in the fullness of time. My sense is that, personally, I have learned more in the last fifteen years, than in my first forty. A pity that. But it shows there is something to that fullness of time---that it occurs differently for each of us.