Assholes - A Theory

Fülszöveg

Advance praise ior Assholes: A Theory
""Aaron James provides us with a delightful philosophical romp through the world of assholes. I was especially tickled by his analysis of different types: smug assholes, royal assholes, the presidential asshole, corporate assholes, the reckless assholes, to name a few.'' —Robert I. Sutton, Stanford University professor, and author of the New York Times bestsellers The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss
"Aaron James explores a very rude term that many now find unavoidable in the description of an alarming human type. His witty and accessible study of the personal and social problems the asshole creates draws on his lucid and brilliant accounts of the best in contemporary moral and poHdcal philosophy. James's analysis of asshole capitalism is a tour de/orce of philosophically astute polidcal analysis and criticism. This is a book that should appeal equally to the general reader and the philosophical specialist." —Marshall Cohen, founding... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Advance praise ior Assholes: A Theory
""Aaron James provides us with a delightful philosophical romp through the world of assholes. I was especially tickled by his analysis of different types: smug assholes, royal assholes, the presidential asshole, corporate assholes, the reckless assholes, to name a few.'' —Robert I. Sutton, Stanford University professor, and author of the New York Times bestsellers The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss
"Aaron James explores a very rude term that many now find unavoidable in the description of an alarming human type. His witty and accessible study of the personal and social problems the asshole creates draws on his lucid and brilliant accounts of the best in contemporary moral and poHdcal philosophy. James's analysis of asshole capitalism is a tour de/orce of philosophically astute polidcal analysis and criticism. This is a book that should appeal equally to the general reader and the philosophical specialist." —Marshall Cohen, founding editor of Philosophy and Public Affairs, and university professor emeritus. University of Southern California
ISBN 978-0-385-53565-6
978038553565652395
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IN THE SPIRIT OF THE MEGA-SELLING ON BULLSHIT, PHILOSOPHER AARON JAMES PRESENTS A THEORY OF THE ASSHOLE THAT IS BOTH INTELLECTUALLY PROVOCATIVE AND EXISTENTIALLY NECESSARY.
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What does it mean for someone to be an asshole? The answer is not obvious, despite the fact that we are often personally smck dealing with people for whom there is no better name. Try as we might to avoid them, assholes are found everywhere—at work, at home, on the road, and in the pubhc sphere. Encoimtering one causes great difficulty and personal strain, especially because we often carmot understand why exacdy someone should be acting like that.
Asshole management begins with asshole understanding. Much as MachiaveUi illuminated pohtical strategy for princes, this book finally gives us the concepts to think or say why assholes disturb us so, and explains why such people seem part of the human social condition, especially in an age of raging narcissism and rmbridled capitalism. These concepts are also pracdcally useful, as imderstanding the asshole we are smck with helps us think constructively about how to handle problems he (and they are mosdy all men) presents. We get a belter sense of when the asshole is best resisted, and when he is best ignored—a better sense of what is, and what is not, worth fighting for.
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AARON JAMES holds a PhD from Harvard
and is associate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economyand was awarded the Burkhardt Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, spending the 2000-10 academic year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He's an avid surfer, which has direcdy inspired this book . . . and he's not an asshole. Vissza