Equals

By Adam Phillips

Book Overview

Written in his beloved epigrammatic and aphoristic style, Equals extends Adam Phillips's probings into the psychological and the political, bringing his trenchant wit to such subjects as the usefulness of inhibitions and the paradox of permissive authority. He explores why citizens in a democracy are so eager to establish levels of hierarchy when the system is based on the assumption that every man is created equal. And he ponders the importance of mockery in group behavior, and the psyche's struggle as a metaphor for political conflict.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465056806
• ISBN13: 9780465056804
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.9" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Phillips best

Adam Phillips has excelled himself. This is a book that repays careful reading. What Phillips has to say - in his cool calm, and slyly humourous way - about how we construct relationships to others, and our relationship to ourself, (particularly about how we can learn to listen)is not only cogent and unique, but also stems from a deep compassion. Phillips 'literary' essays included in this volume could be a model for essayists everywhere, if any still exist. His writing on Primo Levi for example, shows tremendous insight.