Everyone in our society wants to be seen and understood, but very few actually want to be seen and understood – a stark imbalance. Everyone claims 'uniqueness' for themselves, but society is based not on self-realization, but on the realization of relationships. In this book, Wilhelm Schmid therefore explores the question of what values society needs. What holds it (more or less) together? Does it require an 'identity' or rather an 'integrity'? A 'dominant culture'? How important is truth for social cohesion, and how is it found? And why do autocracies have no future, even though they are currently on the rise? Society thrives on citizens who care about its well-being and look out for it. It's high time to rehabilitate the word 'bourgeois,' which was once discredited. And how do we deal with angry citizens? In his encounters with them, the author discovers what, despite everything, unites us: the small and large questions of life. A narrative book, brimming with insights, background information, and surprising encounters. biography Wilhelm Schmid, freelance philosopher, adjunct professor at the University of Erfurt, and visiting lecturer at Tbilisi State University (Georgia). He has lived in Berlin since 1980. Born in 1953 in Billenhausen (Bavarian Swabia), he studied philosophy and history in Berlin (Free University), Paris (Sorbonne), and Tübingen. He regularly works as a "philosophical counselor" at the Affoltern am Albis Hospital near Zurich. He writes a weekly column, "The Art of Living," in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag (Sunday edition) and a monthly column, "The Art of Living," in Filosofie Magazine, Amsterdam. New product