The Consolations of Philosophy summary

by Alain de Botton · 2000 · 6 key ideas · 17-minute read

Six great philosophers, from Socrates to Nietzsche, offered as practical comfort for six everyday troubles: unpopularity, money worries, frustration, feeling inadequate, heartbreak and hardship.

Why read it

For anyone who wants philosophy as a source of everyday wisdom rather than abstract theory. It's warm, witty and an easy entry point into six major thinkers.

The Consolations of Philosophy in brief

De Botton's premise is that philosophy, at its best, was always meant to help people live. The ancients saw it as therapy for the soul. So he takes six philosophers and asks what each can offer for a common source of unhappiness, mixing biography, close reading, pictures and gentle humour.

Socrates consoles us for unpopularity: being disliked or mocked doesn't mean we're wrong, and opinions should be tested by reason, not counted. Epicurus consoles us for not having enough money: happiness depends on friendship, freedom and thought, which cost little. Seneca consoles us for frustration: anger comes from expecting the world to behave better than it does.

Montaigne consoles us for inadequacy, whether physical, cultural or intellectual: he describes his own body and failings with cheerful honesty, reminding us that everyone is more fallible than they let on. Schopenhauer consoles us for a broken heart: romantic love serves a blind life force, so rejection is less personal than it feels.

Nietzsche consoles us for difficulties: almost nothing worthwhile is achieved without pain, and the task is to cultivate hardship rather than numb it. Across all six chapters, de Botton's message is that philosophy can make ordinary suffering more understandable and so more bearable.

The 6 key ideas

1. Unpopular isn't the same as wrong

Count the reasons, not the voices.

2. Happiness costs less than you think

Friends, freedom, thought. The rest is mostly packaging.

3. Frustration comes from false expectations

Anger is disappointed optimism. Adjust the forecast.

4. Everyone is more ridiculous than they admit

Behind every dignified façade is a fallible body. Including theirs.

5. Heartbreak isn't personal

Not chosen isn't the same as not worthy.

6. Cultivate your difficulties

Don't anaesthetise the pain. Garden it.

Key takeaways

• Test unpopular ideas, including your own, by reasoning rather than headcount.
• Ask what you're really seeking before spending money, and find a cheaper path to it.
• When frustrated, look for the unrealistic expectation behind the anger.
• Admit your ordinary failings; it frees you and others.
• Treat rejection as less personal than it feels.
• Work with your difficulties instead of numbing them.

Our take

The Consolations of Philosophy is charming, accessible and genuinely helpful: it rescues the old idea that philosophy should improve lives, and it introduces six major thinkers with warmth and humour. Its limitations come with the format. Each philosopher is reduced to one consolation, and the portraits sometimes simplify complex thought, especially Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. Professional philosophers have criticised it as philosophy lite. Some consolations feel more comforting than rigorous. But as a gateway that makes readers curious enough to pick up the originals, it succeeds, and its pairing of ideas with everyday troubles is memorable.

About Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton is a Swiss-born writer based in Britain, known for popular books applying philosophy to everyday life. He co-founded The School of Life, an organisation devoted to emotional education.

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