R. Jay Wallace

The View from Here is a study of our must fundamental attitudes toward the past. The book explores the dynamics of affirmation and regret, tracing the connections of each to our ongoing attachments. The focus is on situations in which our attachments commit us to affirming events or decisions that we know to have been unfortunate or regrettable.

On Affirmation, Attachment, and the Limits of Regret

The View from Here

Teaghan Grayson

In The View From Here, R. Jay Wallace does a decent job of discussing issues of regret and reconciling wrong past actions with the present. Such discussion is worthwhile, as it fills a hole generally avoided in philosophy: how do we deal with bad actions when good arises from them? Wallace admits from the beginning that he doesn't have a good answer to this question, eventually settling on what he calls "modest nihilism" which can basically be translated for the common man to "shit happens". This explanation is certainly unsatisfying, but Wallace still has a great deal of interesting thoughts on the subject, enough for a worthwhile book. Still, I don't believe it'd be too much to ask for a few more grasps at a grander theory rather than end on a shrug.

The View from Here On Affirmation, Attachment, and the Limits of Regret

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