The School of Life
Three 13 Solutions, Campus London LLP, ELOE Limited, STOA Limited.[1]
Founded2008 (2008)
FounderAlain de Botton
Headquarters
London, England
Websitewww.theschooloflife.com

The School of Life is a social media company that offers advice about life issues. It was founded in 2008 and has its headquarters in London,[2] with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Istanbul, Paris, São Paulo,[3][4] and Taipei.[5] The School of Life offers courses covering topics including [6][7]anxiety management, emotional intelligence, relationships, work, creativity, and spirituality.

History

The School of Life was founded in 2008[4] by a group of academics including author Alain de Botton. Its curator Sophie Howarth is assisted by psychotherapists, artists, and educators.[8] The staff includes philosophers Mark Vernon, Robert Rowland Smith, and Roman Krznaric.

The School of Life offers courses instructed by philosophers, psychologists, artists, and writers.[9] The company also offers books, articles, videos, and services such as psychotherapy and bibliotherapy, both online and in-person at physical shops.[10]

Publishing

As of 2016, The School of Life owns a publishing press named "The School of Life Press."[11] It has published over fifty books. In 2019, a collection of the School of Life's ideas was published under the title of "The School of Life: An Emotional Education".

Books

  • Great Thinkers (2016)
  • Relationships (2017)
  • How to Overcome Your Childhood (2018)
  • Anxiety (2019)
  • Big Ideas for Curious Minds (2019)
  • What They Forgot to Teach You at School (2020)
  • The Good Enough Parent (2021)

Criticism

The School of Life has been criticized for some of its representations of philosophers and philosophical arguments. The Los Angeles Review of Books has criticized a series of books by the School of Life as being a "vortex of jargon pitched somewhere between the banal banter of daytime talk shows and the schedule for a nightmarish New Age retreat."[12] Professor Hans-Georg Moeller of the University of Macau has criticized the School's video on Lao Tzu, stating that it used fabricated quotes and misrepresented the Dao De Jing.[13]

Despite praising the School of Life for its critiques of romanticism and efforts to foster emotional intelligence using philosophy, Jeffrey Howard argues that the School offers "self-help for those who might need a bit more engagement with the intellect in order to consider the more complete living that comes with also employing our faculties that operate from the neck down."[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Campus London LLP – Overview (free company information from Companies House)".
  2. ↑ "Londoner's Diary: Alain De Botton and his school exit Europe". London Evening Standard. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "The School of Life: An Interview With Alain de Botton". HuffPost. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  4. 1 2 Wyndham, Susan (29 June 2016). "Alain de Botton and his School of Life come to Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "International Opportunities". The School of Life. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Preparing for Anxiety Management Training". Anxiety Management: 1–18. 28 April 2017. doi:10.4324/9781315172941-1.
  7. ↑ "Preparing for Anxiety Management Training". Anxiety Management: 1–18. 28 April 2017. doi:10.4324/9781315172941-1.
  8. ↑ "Faculty". The School of Life. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ↑ "About Us". The School of Life. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Conrad, Peter (1 September 2013). "Life Lessons from... Bergson, Byron, Freud, Hobbes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "The School of Life | Your Path to Mental Wellbeing". The School of Life. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ↑ Levy, Lisa (11 May 2013). "How To Think More (But Not Better): Alain de Botton's School of Life". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  13. ↑ WORSE Philosophy Videos! School of Life on Eastern Philosophy - Lao Tzu, archived from the original on 20 December 2021, retrieved 15 June 2021
  14. ↑ Howard, Jeffrey (2019). "'The School of Life' Preaches Pessimism Over Romanticism." Erraticus. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
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