FOR MANY years, Kieran Setiya has suffered from chronic pain. Aristotle and many philosophers since have judged that such an affliction, like other major harms, must diminish or spoil a good life. Mr Setiya, a well-regarded professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, disagrees. “Life is Hard” is his wry and ever-thoughtful explanation of why. 

基兰·塞蒂亚（Kieran Setiya）多年来一直受慢性疼痛之苦。亚里士多德和他之后的许多哲学家都认为这种痛苦就像其他严重伤害一样，肯定是对美好人生的折损。但塞蒂亚这位麻省理工学院备受尊敬的哲学教授倒不这么认为。他在《人生维艰》 （Life is Hard）中给出的解释幽默自嘲又富于深思。

Its short, engagingly written chapters examine six banes of life in turn: infirmity (including pain), loneliness, grief, failure, injustice and “absurdity”, or a sense of life’s futility. Everyone faces some of them at one time or another. Many people face several all the time. If suffering is in practice unavoidable, how is a good life possible?

这本书用短小精悍的章节依次审视了人生六大苦:病弱（包括疼痛）、孤独、悲伤、失败、不公、“荒诞”（即生命的虚无感）。每个人都会在人生的某个节点面对这其中某些苦，许多人更是自始至终承受着好几种。如果苦难实际上无可避免，那何来所谓的美好人生？