On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing, Playing, Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing

by James V. Schall

Book Overview

In this wise and witty book, acclaimed author James Schall illuminates a fundamental truth that will shock ceaselessly busy and ambitious Americans: human affairs are unserious.

Following Plato, Schall shows why singing, dancing, playing, contemplating, and other "useless" human activities are not merely forms of escape but also indications of the freedom in and for which men and women were created. The joy that accompanies leisure, festivity,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1610170253
• ISBN13: 9781610170253
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Precious Gem

This is one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a while. In a collection of essays, Schall synthesizes the philosophy of the greats within the Western tradition, including Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Chesterton, and even some twentieth-century figures such as Voegelin, Strauss and Arendt. These thinkers teach us to be skeptical of the purported wisdom and sophistication of humanity and to rather focus our deepest selves on the highest things, namely the things of God. The surprising twist of this book is that Schall shows that we are at our best in focusing on the highest things when we are engaging in activities most of us would consider inherently unserious, such as dancing, singing, playing sports, writing letters, looking at art, praying, or talking with friends. Unlike work, even the most noble work, these activities don't exist for a purpose, but are rather an end unto themselves, just like God. And because it is through these seemingly unserious activities that we best approach an authentic understanding of God they become, in a sense, the most serious things we do. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a "serious" thinker about the highest things. Schall's style is very fun to read and his authentic self is easy to grasp in the words. This book is an intellectual challenge, to be sure; there is a ton in this book that I know I didn't quite understand, though I hope I will some day. This book tells of what is dignified, wonderful, and beautiful about the Western/Classical Christian tradition. Enjoy!

An amazing book

There are certain books that can simply be described as enlightening. This is one of them. I was a philosophy student when I read this book. And it brought the subject alive. It is an enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Essential reading

While reading the L.A. Times this morning - with, I admit it, a jaundiced eye - I noticed that the former Religion section has received a new baptism: it's now called the "Beliefs" section. This seemingly insignificant change actually has great meaning, pointing to the fact that we now live in an age of relativism, of radical subjectivity in which the very idea of truth is being casually sacrificed at the altar of the new, the convenient, the comfortable, and the self-affirmative. Truth has been consumerized; buffet spirituality is the order of the day. And under this dictatorship of relativism, human life itself has been consumerized at the sacrificial altar of "choice" and convenience. This is progress? Really, is not the whole "progressive" project fundamentally ironic, entirely Orwellian? It was with great joy, then, that I discovered Father Schall and this book. Don't let the title dissuade you. In his opening chapter, Schall explains: "The unseriousness of human affairs is, to conclude, the consequence of understanding the primacy of God. Real things are not less because other real things are more. If the whole of what we do - if the whole world - is merely 'child's play,' as Plato also intimated, it is not because there is no drama among us. Rather, it is because we are already included in a drama of infinitely greater grandeur than anything we could possibly make or even imagine by ourselves." Written in Schall's inimitably charming style, this book is a highly erudite meditation on and defense of the highest things, those things for which we all, secretly or not, thirst: truth, virtue, friendship, order, self-discipline, love. He does this, and more, not by inventing new truths, but by plumbing the depths of eternal truths as elucidated throughout history. And he does it not only with the assistance of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas and various contemporary thinkers, but also with the help of Charlie Brown. For me, this was a tremendous bonus. I've rediscovered my childhood love of the Peanuts gang. I confess that I had meant to simply add this book to my list, possibly reading it a year or two down the road. This was not to be. After reading the Introduction, I found this book's gravitational force to be irresistible. Let it work its magic on you too. At the very least, you'll find it exquisitely countercultural. Incidentally, I highly recommend another Schall book, Another Sort of Learning. "The slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things." -Thomas Aquinas

Humane and Challenging

The Unseriousness of Human Affairs is a title almost certainly written to give the modern reader a jolt-what, is not everything I work for pretty serious? Our country, my job, my family, these are not serious?Prof. Schall shows us how leisure and play is in fact crucial to our nature as human beings, that our learning and growth develops through something that is spontaneous, as he demonstrates by pointing out that the Greek and Latin terms for school (skole and otium, respectively) can also mean "leisure". So begins an intellectual romp that includes Jesus, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Aquinas and G.K. Chesterton along with some more unlikely companions, like Robert Pirsig's _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ (good book, by the way), Charlie Brown, and Friederich Nietzsche. The latter, while a powerful voice in his own right, is not someone you would expect a rather cheerful Christian like Prof. Schall to cite, but in fact he makes great use of Nietzsche's observation that dissipation is the result not of joy but of joylessness, which is a key point in the book. The result is a Christian humanism that is intelligible to people of all walks of life and beliefs, and points to a learning that is engaged with the classics and the great, hard questions of life, but does so in a pleasurable, positive way. Many modern figures have commented that Christians (or perhaps religious folk in general) are distracted from solving this world's problems by the promise of an afterlife in Paradise. John Lennon's song "Imagine" is a good example of this thinking. Prof. Schall shows, however, that the very transcendence in the Judeo-Christian worldview in fact gives us what needed to handle those problems that Lennon et al. rightfully rail against. In the middle of this book, Prof. Schall pays tribute to the teachers he never met, such as Augustine and Hilaire Belloc, and I must say that he has become a teacher that has touched my life, though I have not met him. God willing, perhaps I shall, but this book is profoundly enriching and inspiring, and I trust he will influence many more lives through it.

An impressive treatise

On The Unseriousness Of Human Affairs by James Schall is an impressive treatise revealing how such sometimes considered "useless" activities such as singing, dancing, playing, and contemplating, are in fact the core and basis for flourishing human culture and society. Indeed, this seemingly unpractical pastimes embody and reflect the very nature of human aspirations and enduring achievements. Schall draws upon such diverse representations as Aristotle, Samuel Johnson, and cartoon character Charlie Brown to document and showcase a significant countercultural message that such pursuits are in the best interest of human society as a whole, and individual men and women in the course of their personal lives. On The Unseriousness Of Human Affairs is an enthusiastically recommended contribution to the study of contemporary philosophy and welcome reading for anyone with an interest in the nature and relevance of the arts to the quality and substance of human life.