A wish book received as a birthday gift.

We all know that being kind makes us feel good, and that being on the receiving end of an act of kindness can make all the difference in a difficult situation. So why is it that kindness seems to be such a rare commodity? Why is being kind often considered a weakness? Clearly we, as a society, are deeply ambivalent about kindness. This short book delves into the history of kindness, seeking to understand why we dismiss it as a weakness, the domain of selfless eccentrics, even while valuing the impacts kindness can have in our lives.

From the philosophers of antiquity, to the thinkers of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment to Freud and modern psychanalysis, there is a long history of efforts to understand the role kindness plays in human relationships. Some, such as Rousseau, see kindness as the essential characteristic of our social nature, a sign that we are inter-dependent upon each other. Others, emphasizing independence and freedom, see kindness as an artifact of our more primitive past, a weakness to be overcome in the interests of self-promotion.

The book concludes with a summary of the current ascendency of the independent worldview, which views kindness with suspicion, as best, and often with outright hostility. The authors conclude that this worldview is threatening to tear the very fabric of our social structures, and urge a return to the interdependent worldview that values kindness.

An interesting overview of the philosophy of kindness and its role in society, even if it does require some effort to push through the denser parts of the analysis (especially in the discussion of the impacts of Freud and psychoanalysis). Perhaps not everyone’s idea of pleasure reading, but for those who have an interest in these issue, well worth the effort.

This will be available at today's BC-in-DC get together.

I chose this book at the February 2016 BC-in-DC group meet-up held at the food court of the Westfield Wheaton shopping mall.