H A P P I N E S S , D E A T H , A N D T H E R E M A I N D E R O F L I F E TheTannerLecturesonHumanValues (cid:1) JONATHAN LEAR H A P P I N E S S , D E A T H , A N D T H E R E M A I N D E R O F L I F E HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England 2000 Copyright©2000bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Fourthprinting,2001 FirstHarvardUniversityPresspaperbackedition,2001 PermissiontoquotefromFranzKafka’s“TheGreatWallofChina,”inthe Everyman’sLibraryeditionoftheCollectedStories(1993),grantedby AlfredA.Knopf,Inc.,adivisionofRandomHouse,Inc. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Lear,Jonathan. Happiness,death,andtheremainderoflife/JonathanLear. p.cm.—(TheTannerlecturesonhumanvalues) Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex. ISBN0-674-00329-2(cloth) ISBN0-674-00674-7(pbk.) 1.Psychoanalysisandphilosophy.2.Ethics.3.Freud,Sigmund,1856–1939. 4.Aristotle.I.Title.II.Tannerlecturesonhumanvalues(Cambridge,Mass.) BF175.4.P45L422000 150.19(cid:1)5—dc21 00-039705 FOR BERNARD AND PATRICIA WILLIAMS C O N T E N T S 1 Happiness 1 2 Death 61 3 TheRemainderofLife 106 Notes 167 Acknowledgments 183 Index 187 Humannature,essentiallychangeable,unstableasthedust, canendurenorestraint;ifitbindsitselfitsoonbeginstotear madlyatitsbonds,untilitrendseverythingasunder,thewall, thebonds,anditsveryself. —FRANZ KAFKA,“TheGreatWallofChina”