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Josef Pieper
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Happiness and Contemplation Paperback – November 15, 1998

by Josef Pieper (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 46 ratings
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"The ultimate of human happiness is to be found in contemplation".

In offering this proposition of Thomas Aquinas to our thought, Josef Pieper uses traditional wisdom in order to throw light on present-day reality and present-day psychological problems. What, in fact, does one pursue in pursuing happiness? What, in the consensus of the wisdom of the early Greeks, of Plato and Aristotle, of the New Testament, of Augustine and Aquinas, is that condition of perfect bliss toward which all life and effort tend by nature?

In this profound and illuminating inquiry, Pieper considers the nature of contemplation, and the meaning and goal of life.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    144 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    St. Augustines Press
  4. Publication date
    November 15, 1998
  5. Dimensions
    5.3 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781890318314
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1890318314
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"His sentences are admirably constructed, his ideas expressed with the maximum clarity. But his mind is submissive to what he believes to be the great, the main tradition of European thought. . . . He restores to their position in philosophy what common sense obstinately tells us ought to be found there: insight and wisdom." -- T.S. Eliot

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1890318310
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Augustines Press; 1st edition (November 15, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781890318314
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1890318314
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 46 ratings

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Josef Pieper

Josef Pieper

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
46 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

CDS
5.0 out of 5 stars What Do You Seek?
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2007
Verified Purchase
We are often tempted to think that our search for happiness will be fulfilled by making or doing, by trying new experiences. Pieper in this book argues that the source of happiness is fundamentally simpler and yet more difficult to attain. He expresses in this book how the source and fulfillment of happiness are found through contemplation. I won't clarify this too much, because I think this book is an extremely worthwhile read. It can be dense at times, but struggling with it proved to be very rewarding. Pieper goes against many of the prevailing modern beliefs, but in the end his answers prove to be more sound and satisfying than many other answers out there.
37 people found this helpful
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Rainbow
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2015
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Brilliant. Among the five most important books I have read. If you wish to understand what it is to be, and to be as, a human being, you must read Heidegger's Being and Time and Pieper's Happiness & Contemplation. The essence of human happiness does not involve a thinking toward but, rather, a dwelling with.
6 people found this helpful
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♫NewHorizons♫
4.0 out of 5 stars Four stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2018
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Best read along with Pieper's Leisure the Basis of Culture.
One person found this helpful
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Sebastian Randle
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Pieper's best books. I've read it lots of time
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
One of Pieper's best books. I've read it lots of time, and was always rewarded with a new insight. Pieper is one of my favourites, he brings Plato and Saint Thomas Aquinas together in a very clever way.
4 people found this helpful
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Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2017
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Very good!
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ellen m. patton
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2016
Verified Purchase
no comment
One person found this helpful
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Mark Meuer
4.0 out of 5 stars Is there one greatest good for all?
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2006
What is man's greatest good? What is the source of deepest happiness? Is it the same for all people, or is it impossible to say that there is a greatest good, a greatest happiness that would apply to everyone?

Josef Pieper explores these questions by explaining and defending St. Thomas' doctrine that contemplation is the deepest happiness of Man.

"Contemplation is man's greatest happiness" is a concept completely foreign to contemporary American society. It requires a fair amount of exploration and explanation just to understand what the statement is actually asserting. Because we tend to focus so strongly on action, and view contemplation as "doing nothing," we are very apt to completely miss St. Thomas' point.

To contemplate is, at the deepest level, to see something as it truly is. It is not just seeing the external characteristics of an object, but in a sense it is "seeing through" the object to the Love and Joy of the Creator of the Universe. To contemplate is to dwell in the reality of things.

My description falls far short of providing any real clarity. For that, I refer you to Josef pipers book. It is short and accessible and rewards a careful reading.

Some choice quotes:

Quoting Augustine: "No matter how much you labor, you labor to this end: that you may see."

"...everything holds and conceals at bottom a mark of its divine origin; that one who catches a glimpse of it 'sees' that this and all things are 'good' beyond all comprehension; and that, seeing this, he is happy. Here in sum is the whole doctrine of the contemplation of earthly creation." [pg. 88]

"This, incidentally, may suggest that the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is the incessant fabrication of tawdry empty stimuli which kill the receptivity of the soul..." [pg. 102]
64 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
awful. not at all what i expected
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Top reviews from other countries

kathleen delarmi
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2015
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good buy
One person found this helpful
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