Gonnagle,
Yes, I think Mr. Botton's points are all well taken!
I would add that there are additional important sources of mental stress, nearly all associated with what I at least see as the disconnect between our biological, evolutionary heritage and our cultural creations, the former moving slowly and the latter, very rapidly. David Barash develops this notion in his forthcoming book, Through a Glass Brightly, out this summer.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/through-a-glass-brightly-9780190673710?cc=us&lang=en&#
I Read the review.
I would immediately question the narrative that science has progressively diminished humanity's self image rather than reduced humanity to a collection of bits built from from ancestors with no novelty.
Of course science gives us facts but in the end we have to live in our own skins.
I get the feeling I would disagree with the review's view of the self image of man. As with De Botton and Pinker the question is what stats or information do we have on self image in past times? I suspect a caricature historical human who sits against our present knowledge and model of the universe and arrogantly pronounces himself as central to
thatrather than a much more narrow historical model.
Of course there are clues. The standard traditional Christian funeral service where we start from dust and end in dust and in the end we fair no better than the plants and there is the practical evidence of lives lived nearer to nature than since the enlightenment.
Also a scientific perspective not being shared by the majority is hardly surprising. Science is ecstatic. It regularly takes us out of ourselves because we employ a different mindset and as an ecstatic practice it becomes very attractive as a modus vivindi for those with the disposition.
I suppose i'll have to buy the book.
