Home Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward by Mark Freeman (ISBN: 9780195389937)

Stock photo: cover may vary

Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward Hardback - 2009 - 1st Edition

Name: Hindsight : The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward
Price: 12.30 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Freeman, Mark
ISBN: 9780195389937

by Mark Freeman

Add to wish list

Browse more copies for sale ↓

Reader reviews for Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward

Write a review for this book

Important Terms and Guidelines

Please focus on the book’s content and context. Also, add any personal comments as to how you enjoyed the book. Substantiate your likes and dislikes. You may make comparisons to other books.
Reviews must be at least 140 characters in length.
Please do not reveal critical plot elements.
This is not a help line. Contact customer support if you need help.

Your review must not include:

Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other insulting language not suitable for public domain
Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers or websites.
Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other contact information.
Overly critical comments about other reviews or reviewers
Time-sensitive material (i.e. promotional tours, seminars, lectures, etc.)
Availability, price, or alternative ordering/shipping information

From the publisher

Although the idea of hindsight is frequently associated with the biases, distortions, and outright lies of memory--as in the infamous "20-20" scenario or the conviction that one "knew it all along"--Mark Freeman maintains that this process of looking backward over the terrain of the past can also serve as a profound source of insight, understanding, and self-knowledge. Consider Tolstoy's harrowing tale of Ivan Ilych, revisiting his past on the eve of his death, only to realize that the life he had been living was a lie. Consider as well the many times in our own lives when, upon reviewing the past, we are able to see what we could not, or would not, see earlier on.

Hindsight is also intimately connected to what Freeman calls narrative reflection: Through the distance conferred by time, we can look back on past experiences and see them anew, as episodes in an evolving story. As important as "being in the now" and "living in the moment" are, it is no less important to pause at times and, by looking backward, seek to discern those aspects of experience that might otherwise escape our notice. Far from necessarily leading to deception and lies, therefore, hindsight can lead to wisdom and indeed truth--of a sort, Freeman contends, that is only available in retrospect.

In addition to serving as a central site of self-knowledge, hindsight plays an integral role in the process of moral growth. For, through hindsight, there emerges the opportunity not only to see the possible errors of our ways but to transcend them and thereby to move on to better ways of being in the world. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, literature, and personal experience, this wide-ranging volume offers an insightful and engaging exploration of the role of hindsight both in discerning the personal past and in deepening moral life.

Details

Title Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward
Author Mark Freeman
Binding Hardback
Edition number 1st
Edition 1
Pages 264
Volumes 1
Language ENG
Publisher Oxford University Press, Oxford
Publication date 2009-12-31
Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Table of Contents
ISBN 9780195389937 / 019538993X
Weight 1 lbs (0.45 kg)
Dimensions 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 in (21.84 x 14.73 x 2.29 cm)
Themes
- Aspects (Academic): Philosophical
Category Psychology
Library of Congress subjects Hindsight bias (Psychology)
Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2009030184
Dewey Decimal Code 153

Media reviews

Citations

Choice, 08/01/2010, Page 0

About the author

Mark Freeman is Professor of Psychology and Dean of the Class of 2011 at the College of the Holy Cross, where he has also served as the W. Arthur Garrity, Sr. Professor in Human Nature, Ethics and Society. He is the author of Rewriting the Self: History, Memory, Narrative; Finding the Muse: A Sociopsychological Inquiry into the Conditions of Artistic Creativity; and numerous articles on memory, self, and autobiographical narrative. Freeman is also the 2010 recipient of the Theodore Sarbin Award.

More Copies for Sale

Show all copies

Stock photo: cover may vary

Hindsight : The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward

by Freeman, Mark

Used

Condition: Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13: 9780195389937 / 019538993x
Quantity available: 1
Seller: Better World Books

Biblio Top Seller
Item price: A$17.64

Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:

Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Add to wish list

Item price

A$17.64

Free Delivery to USA

Stock photo: cover may vary

Hindsight : The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward

by Freeman, Mark

Used

Condition: Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13: 9780195389937 / 019538993x
Quantity available: 1
Seller: Better World Books
Item price: A$17.64

Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:

Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Used - Very Good. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.