Graceful Simplicity: The Philosophy and Politics of the Alternative American Dream

Front Cover
University of California Press, Apr 30, 2003 - Philosophy - 289 pages
Despite the United States' economic abundance, "the good life" has proved elusive. Millions long for more time for friends and family, for reading or walking or relaxing. Instead our lives are frantic, hectic, and harried. In Graceful Simplicity, Jerome M. Segal, philosopher, political activist, and former staff member of the House Budget Committee, expands and deepens the contemporary discourse on simple living. He articulates his conception of a politics of simplicity—one rooted in beauty, peace of mind, appreciativeness, and generosity of spirit.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Two Ways of Thinking About Money
3
Individualistic Strategies for Simple Living
23
The Money We Need
45
The Politics of Simplicity
73
How Did We Get Where We Are?
119
Graceful Living
159
Graceful Living and Retreating from the World
180
Graceful Opulence versus Graceful Simplicity
200
Are We Simple Creatures?
214
The Monetary Illusion
228
Economic Life for the Twentyfirst Century
247
NOTES
253
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2003)

Jerome M. Segal is the author of Agency and Alienation: A Theory of Human Presence (1991) and Creating the Palestinian State: A Strategy for Peace (1989), and coauthor of Negotiating Jerusalem (2000). He is Senior Research Scholar at the University of Maryland Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy.

Bibliographic information