In Pursuit of the Beautiful Soul

In Pursuit of the Beautiful Soul by Justine Kolata offers a revolutionary solution to overcoming the soullessness of modern life. The book explores the untold relationship between the eighteenth-century philosophy of the Beautiful Soul and the salon culture in which it was enacted. This lost humanistic artform of self-cultivation inspires the pursuit of beauty, goodness, and truth in the act of creating a beautiful existence. Kolata weaves together the essential features of this practical philosophy with an historical exploration of the German-Jewish salonnires ground-breaking efforts to cultivate beautiful souls through the arts and conversation. She recounts vivid anecdotes from her own salons which revitalise this vibrant tradition. In Pursuit of the Beautiful Soul explores how this philosophys prescient insights into the human condition provide a framework for todays disenchanted generations to restore the ideals intrinsic to individual happiness and social flourishing.