I'm Alan Olga and this is Clear In Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

There's a tendency for philosophers thinking about the good life to say, well, let's start

with the ideal life.

Like that's the target and we'll get as close as we can.

And I think one thing that comes into focus when you deal with difficulty like this is

that often the ideal life is just out of reach.

There's no point trying to live a pain-free life when you have a chronic pain condition.

And there's no point trying to do the kinds of things your body or social circumstance

just won't permit.

So the way of thinking about what a good life would be that you have when you're dealing

with difficulty can't be let's aim for the ideal.

It has to be, you have to ask different questions about, you know, what's good enough?

What would, what can I hope for in this difficult circumstance?

That's Karen Seteer.

He's a philosopher whose new book Life is Hard.

He's a very personal take on what it means to live a good life in the face of adversity.

Informed by the thinking of philosophers, ancient and modern, it's much more than a self-help book.

It's a moving and witty exploration of the value of facing up to reality as the path to living well.

This is great to be talking with you because I've always been interested in philosophy,

never studied it formally.

And I was struck by the comment that was in the margin of one of your papers that you submitted

to your professor was maybe your thesis.

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