A leading philosopher explains how risk-taking can help us live authentic and flourishing lives
We take risks every day—perhaps not the extreme, dangling-off-the-side-of-a-mountain kind of risks, but risks nonetheless, in decisions about careers, marriage, children, moving house, and other matters. Tempting fate is simply what we have to do from time to time in life. But how we should go about tempting fate in a reasonable way? In this illuminating book, philosopher Duncan Pritchard explains why risk-taking, even extreme risk-taking, can sometimes be both reasonable and admirable, and how it can play a crucial role in living an authentic life.
Using Alex Honnold’s famous free solo climb of El Capitan as a paradigm example of admirable risk-taking, Pritchard offers a completely new theory of risk, one that explains it in terms of fragility rather than probability. He shows how fragility can explain why skill and preparation are crucial to sensible risk-taking, even when the activity is unavoidably high risk. Fragility also makes clear that taking risks means riding one’s luck and why both risk and luck are vital to living an authentic and meaningful existence. Pritchard shows that his fragility theory of risk has practical implications for making sense of risk in law, arts, sports, and other domains. Tempting fate, in other words, is not merely thrill-seeking but essential for human flourishing.
eBook - ePub
Tempting Fate
A Philosophical Guide to Risk, Luck, and a Meaningful Life
- 203 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Publisher
Princeton University PressYear
2026Print ISBN
9780691259529
9780691259512
eBook ISBN
9780691294940
Topic
PhilosophySubtopic
Personal SuccessTable of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. “Death Is Always Beside You on the Mountain”
- 2. Thinking About Risk
- 3. How Not to Solve Our Puzzle
- 4. Authenticity Risk
- 5. Fragility
- 6. Pushing One’s Luck
- 7. The Importance of Achievements
- 8. Knowledge and Fragility
- 9. Risk in the Wild: Existential, Sporting, Aesthetic, and Legal Risk Legal
- 10. Tempting Fate
- Glossary
- Notes
- References
- Index
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Yes, you can access Tempting Fate by Duncan Pritchard in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Personal Success. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.