39. How to Rethink Ambition: Kieran Setiya, author of ‘Midlife’ [reads] Aristotle’s ‘Nicomachean Ethics’

Here’s a saying I heard once - it used to be hilarious, now I guess it’s just painfully true: “Inside every old person is a young person wondering ‘What the hell just happened here?!’” When you hit midlife, is it just a slower, creakier version of being a thirty-year-old, or do things actually shift? What is contentment or ambition? What actually matters? 

Kieran Setiya is a professor of philosophy at MIT in Boston, and the author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide. In this episode, he shares the fundamentals of navigating problems and finding existential value in the midst of a crisis. Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/ 

Kieran reads two pages from ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ by Aristotle. [reading begins at 7:50] 

Hear us discuss: 

Atelic activities and existential value. [13:37] | When to settle and when to disrupt: “Looking for an algorithm to tell you how to solve your life is not the way to do it.” [18:59] | Death’s role in shaping a meaningful life: “Thinking about the finitude of human life has changed my sense of what actually matters.” [24:41] |Changes in ambition when navigating midlife. [31:18]